NY Sen. Chuck Schumer Introduces Bill Banning Common K2 Components

Pictured: a sign outside a community garden in Bed-Stuy near the site of a mass K2 overdose on July 13. Photo by John V. Santore

NEW YORK CITY, NY — New York Sen. Chuck Schumer has introduced federal legislation outlawing some of the common components found in K2, the so-called "synthetic marijuana" cocktail that sent at least 33 people to Brooklyn emergency rooms on a single day last week.

Schumer said his bill, known as the "Dangerous Synthetic Drug Control Act of 2016," would outlaw about 24 "synthetic substances" found in K2.

According to a report released last week by the city's health department, since January 2015, about 8,000 people have been sent to New York City emergency rooms due to K2 use.

That said, the city has credited "multiagency enforcement at stores selling synthetic cannabinoid products" with a decrease in the drug’s prevalence.

This past June, fewer people were sent to the emergency room due to K2 than at any point during the past year, health department officials said.

But that pattern was broken recently, with 130 K2 victims transported to the ER between July 11 and July 13 alone, including the 33 picked up by emergency medical responders on July 13.

Nearly half of those 130 individuals live in Bushwick, Williamsburg, Bed-Stuy or Crown Heights, according to the city. (A bodega at the corner of Myrtle Avenue and Broadway called Big Boy Deli was raided last week, though no drugs were found. The intersection is known as the current epicenter of K2 use in New York.)

City law already prohibits the manufacture, sale or possession of "synthetic cannabinoids.”

But on Sunday, Schumer argued that K2 makers have stayed ahead of drug laws by switching their recipes as previous components have been made illegal.

He also said that state laws alone can't stop K2, adding that a federal approach is needed.

"Banning these drugs quickly will help the feds step up their game of whack-a-mole so that we can help stem the tide of synthetic drug use here in New York City and across the country," Schumer said.