Columbia moves to outlaw fake pot and bath salts

This past month The State newspaper reported Columbia and Richland county are making moves to make the fake marijuana, K2 and spice, illegal.  K2 and spice are currently legal drugs sold in gas stations and smoke shops in South Carolina.  Three stores in Five Points currently sell the drugs.

While K2 and spice is a chemically produced substance to mimic the affects of marijuana, bath salts are a white powdery substance that can mimic the affects of cocaine or amphetamines.


"Earlier this month, a 17-year-old in Lexington County was hospitalized after becoming unresponsive from smoking K2, Watkins said. Local emergency rooms also have reported treating patients on bath salts who are so agitated that they have to be restrained for 72 hours, she said."


Local governments and officials have not reported and increase in crime due to the drugs, but are working on banning them in order to get ahead of any potential problems.  Across the country local governments are placing bans on the synthetic drugs and the U.S. Drug Enforcement has placed a ban on five synthetic drugs earlier this year.

The problem with these drugs are they are chemically based and are constantly changing.  The affects of these drugs are inconsistent and users do not know exactly how much of each chemical are in a package.  A person can use K2 without serous side affects one week and experience suicidal thoughts from using the drug the next week.

The move to ban these currently legal drugs are good move for the city of Columbia.  It is smart to get ahead of a drug trend that is already showing can create problems.  What are your thoughts on the potential ban of these synthetic drugs? Feel free to leave your opinions in the comment section below.

Police Presences in Five Points (Columbia, South Carolina)

In an article by The Daily Gamecock, the University of South Carolina student run newspaper, discuss the new improvements that police chief Randy Scott has made in his first year. Within the first year Scott has increased the police presence in the Five Points, an area which is well known to many USC students to partake in underage drinking.The number of cops in the area on any given day is about eight and can swell up to as many as 30, for celebrations and home football games.

Scott has also created a hospitality team, which goes into places that sell alcohol in the Columbia area. He has created several other changes, however they do not pertain to drugs and alcohol.

At an ceremony, given this past Wednesday, in Scotts honor he stated that his efforts over the past year have decreased the numbers of arrest, while increasing the disciplinary programs use.

“We get no benefit from sending someone to jail and [giving them] a criminal record,” Scott said. 

Also, to fight the underage drinking problem of students at the university, Scott has increased referrals to the Office of Student Conduct. Therefor allowing the university to deal with the issue verses given the student a criminal record, as stated before. The increase of police in Five Points, however has created a large discussion among student of the university. Many students say that Scott is just trying to ruin a good night out with friends.

Overall, the presence of the cops in Five Points have done their job, even if students do not like it. The use of fake identification is illegal regardless if you want to drink underage or not. By cracking down they have begun to kill two bird with one stone. Truthfully, they have begun to kill three issues that have surrounded the area for years. The third issue being the party atmosphere of the school.

The cops are not trying to ruin a good time, they are trying to regulate the laws that have been apart of society for years. These laws, that have been broken time and time again, which have been back by data from when the drinking age was 18. It is important to know what is going on with drugs and alcohol in your area. Understanding the laws helps to prevent the many issues that surround them.