SALT LAKE CITY — Law enforcement investigators are looking into packages of "potpourri" being sold in smoke shops along the Wasatch Front.
Smoke shop employees describe the effects of smoking potpourri to those of smoking spice — a synthetic form of marijuana that was outlawed in Utah earlier this year. The sponsor of that bill says he's confident this potpourri falls under the spice bill ban.
Both the product and the packaging of spice and potpourri are similar — an oregano-like substance inside. On the outside, the warning says "not for human consumption."
"Individuals that are buying this may think that it's going to do one thing to their body, and it does something completely different," said Salt Lake Police Sgt. Shawn Josephson.
Salt Lake police say they've received complaints from several people and are now looking into potpourri.
Such potpourri was selling in a Salt Lake smoke shop for $15 a pack this week. The owner of the store didn't want to comment, but he's not the only person selling it. Calls to various smoke shops in West Valley City, Taylorsville, Ogden, West Jordan and South Jordan confirmed they had it in stock as well.
"We weren't naive in passing the statute that it would take all the drugs off the street," said Rep. Gage Froerer, R-Huntsville.
Froerer, the sponsor of the bill outlawing 17 of the derivatives that can be used to make synthetic marijuana like spice, said it's a profitable item both on the wholesale and retail levels. Because of that, he wasn't surprised to hear of similar products, and in some cases spice, still on the market.
"I fully believe it's probably a product that would be covered under my spice bill with the components we named in that bill," Froerer said