Oct. 23, 2012 — A case made famous by a former Sons of Anarchy actor has Rowan County officials talking about the next drug to add to a county ordinance banning the sale and possession of synthetic drugs.
Dana Quesinberry of Rowan County UNITE addressed the new drug, known as “smile”, at last week’s Fiscal Court meeting.
“It’s marketed as ‘smile,’” she said. “In its chemical compound you will find something very similar to the chemical compound in our ordinance.”
She told the Court members about Johnny Lewis, the 28-year-old actor from the TV show, who killed his former landlady and then himself after ingesting the drug.
The drug is known to cause hallucinations and psychosis. Smile can be smoked, snorted or injected. It is marketed, at times, Quesinberry said, with a smiley face.
“Most of these synthetic drugs are a chemical compound of some kind,” she later said. “When there’s a ban on one substance these chemists will take off one of the molecules and add another molecule and say it’s not the same.”
But, according to the local ordinance, it is the same.
Quesinberry said she wanted to make the Court aware of the new drug before it hits the county so that necessary action can be taken.
Nicole Sturgill can be reached at nsturgill@themoreheadnews.com or by telephone at 784-4116.
