One of the difficulties faced by lawmakers in South Dakata, when they attempt to regulate designer drugs, is identifying just what chemical substance they are making illegal. In fact, this underlies the reason designer drugs exist. Chemists alter the structure of a compound so that it still gets users high, but isn’t technically the same thing as the original.
Creating slightly different drug entities has kept the crooks one step ahead of the laws and our legislature one step behind. As soon as a particular compound is regulated, a new type is manufactured that isn’t prohibited. It also matters whether the law addresses only drugs, only foodstuffs, or if it includes any possible way to sell the compound.
For instance, when a substance is only prohibited as a food additive, it is still perfectly legal to sell it as incense or, as has happened recently, “bath salts.” Abusers willingly disregard the label that states, “Not for human consumption,” and sales continue.
The new idea is to ban, not just specific items, but entire classes of substances in all forms, unless they are approved individually. This flips the process around. Instead of needing new law to prevent sales, new regulation is required to sell them in the first place.
Matt Jorgenson, the Sioux Falls Police crime lab manager, was quoted in the news about it. “I have no delusions that this will stop anyone from trying to create a legal high, but this will make it extremely difficult. We’re trying to stem the tide so we’re not continually playing catch-up.”
This strategy parallels how the DEA handles some drugs they list as illegal but can face court challenges when a new substance doesn’t fit clearly into a prohibited category.
