WSYR-TV: State lawmakers push for new laws to stop synthetic drugs

Senator Valesky convenes wide-ranging roundtable at OCC

Published 12/03 2015 06:42PMUpdated 12/03 2015 06:42PM

SYRACUSE (WSYR-TV)

Synthetic drug calls to the Upstate Poison Center are up 540% in Onondaga County since 2011.

The fight to stop this dangerous craze is coming from all corners.

Teresa Woolson knows the problem too well, her son died from synthetic drugs.

"He saw that these products were on the shelf of a store.  He actually said to me, how bad can they be mom."  Woolson says.

19-year-old Victor Woolson died on August 10, 2012 from something called "Pineapple Avalanche."

Woolson tells NewsChannel 9, "I've been to Washington, and I’ve been to Albany and after three years still no state legislation. I'm baffled."

State Senator Dave Valesky says, "It's difficult to keep up legislatively because the chemical components change as quickly if not more quickly than we're able to legislate, so that's one of the great challenges we've had and continue to have, but we're going to double down on this crisis and do everything we can."

Valesky organized a huge roundtable at OCC Thursday bringing together everyone from victims, law enforcement, health care, lawmakers and prosecutors.

One thing being proposed in Albany models itself after a federal law on the books since 1986.

It allows police and prosecutors to keep up with the constantly changing formulas for these products as drug makers try to tweak their products just enough to stay ahead of the law.

Federal Prosecutor Carla Freedman says, "You're going to need chemists, pharmacologists, people to test these products to tell you yes this is a violation of the law.  Similarly you want to make sure you've constructed it in such a way people are aware they are violating the law."

Freedman says even then the large makers of these synthetic drugs have the money to try and slip through the law.

"Be aware that you're going to have a fight on your hands that they're going to look at every word in your statute and if there is any sort of loophole they're going to go after that.” Freedman says.

Still Freedman says new laws can help State prosecutors who've never had the tools to go after the corner stores selling this stuff and the Federal prosecutors who don't have the resources to do it.

State Senator Jeff Klein of Downstate New York, who was at the roundtable, has a package of three laws on synthetic drugs he'll propose when lawmakers return in January.

http://www.localsyr.com/news/local-news/state-lawmakers-push-for-new-laws-to-stop-synthetic-drugs