Worcester City Officials Clueless About Synthetic Marijuana Issues
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Perhaps the most striking problem in regards to synthetic marijuana in Worcester is that both City Manager Ed Augustus admitted at a recent city council meeting that he wasn’t aware of the problem and Chief of Police Gary Gemme has admitted that the Worcester Police are unsure about the laws surrounding the substance.
“This is something that has been going on for a long time,” said Bill Breault, chair of the Main South Alliance for Public Safety, the person who originally brought up the petition for a ban on synthetic marijuana back in 2012. “At this point, we are beyond upset that this is still happening. It seems like we are getting closer but this has taken far too long. This is a bad substance that needs to be removed from everywhere both city and nationwide.”
Although synthetic marijuana has been a problem both in Worcester for a while, a lot of recent nationwide attention has happened after New Hampshire officials reported 37 overdoses from synthetic marijuana in a two-day period.
Police Struggle With New Law
As a part of the report back to the City Manager and City Council, Police Chief Gary Gemme sent a letter to City Manager Ed Augustus talking about what the Worcester Police have been doing to help eliminate synthetic marijuana in Worcester.
Because the state law itself is new – it was only signed into effect on July 11, 2014, Worcester Police is saying that they haven’t had the proper time to get aquatinted with the specifics of how to enforce the law. Additionally, Worcester Police say they do not have the ability to analyze any seized product to make sure that it is actually a banned substance.
A Blatant Problem
City councilors and others throughout the city have been very vocal in saying that this is not a new problem in the city and that they are quite upset that it has not been dealt with as of yet.
Because the substance is banned in the city, as well as state and nationwide, many as calling to question why the city and police are just now trying to enforce the laws and ban on the substance, especially because the product has been so consistently flaunted by those selling it.
“It’s a dangerous product; it’s flaunted and nothing is happening,” said City Councilor Konstantina Lukes at an August city council meeting when another petition regarding synthetic marijuana was brought up. “I think people would lose respect for city government if we don’t know how to govern. If we don’t enforce our own laws then we don’t know how to govern.”
Related Slideshow: New England States with Highest Marijuana Arrest Rates
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