CENTENNIAL, Colo. (AP) — It looked like a disease outbreak. But instead of a virus or bacteria, packets of a leafy mixture sprayed with chemicals sent people to emergency rooms in Colorado. In just a month, synthetic marijuana poisoned more than 200 people and killed at least one.
Law enforcement agencies came together to respond to the crisis last summer because “people were getting sick and dying,” U.S. Attorney John Walsh said at a news conference Wednesday as he stood with federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents, state prosecutors, local police and others. Earlier Wednesday, nine men indicted by a federal grand jury in Denver were arrested in Colorado and several other states on charges of conspiracy and drug distribution as part of a national crackdown on synthetic drugs.
