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Synthetic Marijuana and Methamphetamine Sting at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport Mail Facility


Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents at O’Hare Airport in Chicago, Illinois, have recently uncovered international drug smuggling activities at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport Mail Facility.  CBP agents have discovered synthetic marijuana and methamphetamine in several packages and letters that have come into the facility from China and Europe.

Steven Artino, Acting Director of CBP Field Operations in Chicago said, “These unpredictable chemical combinations are sending some users to the hospital and others to the grave.”

Synthetic marijuana is a mixture of common herbs sprayed with synthetic chemicals that mirror the high of marijuana. The American Association of Poison Control Centers reported that within the past year there have been over 500 cases of negative reactions to the still legal yet dangerous drug.

In 2011, The United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) recently evoked its emergency scheduling authority to control five chemicals used to make so-called "synthetic marijuana" products. Except as authorized by law, this action makes possessing and selling these chemicals or the products that contain them illegal in the United States.

At least 41 states have legislatively banned synthetic cannabinoids.

To read more Mobile Medical Corporation postings about synthetic marijuana please click here.

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