HispanicBusiness

In the aftermath of raids Wednesday at so called head shops in New York state, including Tebb's Headshop in Watertown, State Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman put out the word Thursday that he will push on with his fight against the sale of synthetic drugs.

"We will continue to use every tool in our arsenal to combat the growing and dangerous synthetic drug epidemic," he said in a press release.

The focus of his announcement was a judge's "permanent" restraining order issued Thursday in Monroe County that prohibits a company having stores in Rochester, Henrietta and Webster from selling mislabeled or unlabeled products, including synthetic marijuana and other intoxicants.

Merchants in eleven other locations across the state, including Trip on the Wild Side II, Watertown, have been issued similar but "temporary" restraining orders by judges as a result of suits filed by the attorney general's office.

Jennifer Givney, of Mr. Schneiderman's press office, said the action in Monroe County serves notice to the other shops being sued that permanent rulings will be sought against them.

While federal and state authorities try to outlaw certain chemicals and their analogs to get them out of circulation, chemists and producers who provide to head shops the products bearing such names as bath salts and glass cleaner simply alter their formulas to stay ahead of legislation.

"Today's order" in Monroe County "proves that, by taking a creative approach in using the state's existing labeling laws, we can get swift results to remove dangerous synthetic drugs off store shelves and hold sellers accountable for breaking the law," the Schneiderman statement continued.

Ms. Givney said the attorney general's office was one of the players in Wednesday's raids.