Lubbock County District Attorney Matt Powell talks about the effort trying to crack down on synthetic drugs in Lubbock.
In June 2014, Powell sent a letter to smoke shops in Lubbock, telling them they were enforcing new regulations on the synthetic drugs.
“I think it’s gone as well as it could have gone, we have, I think we’ve been very successful in limiting the opportunities to get synthetic marijuana,” Powell said.
He said they’ve been continuing to attempting to make undercover buys at places they think may still be selling the drugs.
“I think, you know, we’ve done a lot of undercover buys, our guys are still as of the end of last week, we’re still doing undercover buys, trying to, the very few hold outs that are still selling this stuff, to try to get enough evidence to either close the shop, file organized crime, do something that has a little teeth in it other than a misdemeanor that is normally under those statutes,” Powell said.
According to the Texas legislation website, two laws, Senate Bill 172 and Senate Bill 173, have been signed into law by the governor. More information can be found here and here.
Last week, University Medical Center EMS said they got calls for 12 people in relation to synthetic drugs.
“It’s still hurting people, people are still dying from it, and so our goal is 100% get it off the streets completely,” Powell said.