Law cracking down on stores selling potentially dangerous chemicals to kids

City and county law enforcement officers served simultaneous search warrants on four area convenience stores Wednesday and seized thousands of dollars worth of illegal and unknown products the stores were selling to minors.

The businesses were Regal Truck Stop on Hwy. 30 West and Central Station on South Central in New Albany and Poolville Quick Stop on Hwy. West and J and J Grocery on Hwy. 15 South out in the county.

Sultan Slshami

One clerk at each store was arrested and charged with selling tobacco to a minor. New Albany Police Chief Chris Robertson said this was just the first step in an ongoing investigation and more charges possibly including felonies are possible.

Charges will depend on results after the crime lab in Tupelo analyzes the dozens of different products, some of which are labeled in foreign languages or not at all.

“We have been getting complaints for the past two or three months from concerned parents,” Sheriff Jimmy Edwards said. “Their kids would come home high.”

Mussa Bander

“These products have become very popular with 14-, 15- and 16-year-olds as well as some adults,” Edwards said.

While some are merely harmless placebos, other contain CBD and THC, psychoactive components of marijuana

that cause differing effects. Chief Robertson said one product they seized was 100 percent THC.

“The Chief and I have been working on this awhile,” Edwards said. “We have made traffic stops on individuals as they left the stores and found them with the products.” He later added that undercover individuals were used to facilitate charges and officers also seized surveillance recorders from the stores that should have video recordings of sales.

Mohamed Fadal

“We hope to send a message that we are not going to tolerate selling chemicals to our children,” the sheriff said. “If you can’t make a living without selling this poison you need to look for another way.”

“Children in the city and county are affected,” Robertson said. “One problem is that we don’t know what it is. Those selling it don’t and the children certainly don’t.”

And there are many, many products that come and go and it is difficult to control them. “When the law changes (and outlaws a product), they just change one part and it becomes legal.”

Brandi Rollins

The city and county have managed to outlaw spice and a somewhat controversial kratom, as well as products with high concentrations of caffeine being sold to minors, but those problems pale in comparison to what is available now.

Few of these products have even been seen by the Food and Drug Administration, much less approved.

“This is a new type of problem to this generation,” Robertson said. Kids are used to alcohol, smoking and, now, even vaping and don’t see a danger to what one can buy over the counter so easily.

“Kids don’t understand that this is very dangerous,” he said.

The sheriff said he talked with one adult who has been a consistent drug user most of his life. He said the man tried one of these products. “He said he has never been so messed up in his life and he wants nothing more to do with them,” Edwards said.

He added that a woman in the jail now is charged with a felony, although she had an ideal life when younger until being introduced to spice. “It ruined her life,” he said.

Another problem with these products is that they have no good track record.

“We have no idea of the long-term effects, either,” Robertson said.

The products are sold under a number of brands such as Aspen Vape, Colorado Tips, Daze, Addall and others. One might easily argue that the colorful package designs for some target young users. Some are designed to look like marijuana or other drugs.

It’s not clear where the products come from at this point but officers said they think they are from the same general source.

Store operators may not have as much incentive to drop the products on their own because of the potential profit. Most of these products are expensive. For example, one package with two capsules sells for $49.95 and one small bottle with 10 ml. of liquid costs $200.

Even so, most of the products sell out quickly, the sheriff said, and people often buy multiple items despite the expense. They have attempted to make an undercover purchase of one of the products only to discover none was left at the store.

“This is just the first part of the first phase of an ongoing investigation,” Chief Robertson said. “There possibly will be more charges out.”

The four arrested were clerks who made the sales although one may also be the proprietor. The store operators could be charged later.

The initial charge was selling tobacco to a minor, which only required a $500 bond and a potential fine of $202.75. All four are free on bond. They include Sultan Mohamed Saleh Alshami arrested at Regal Truck Stop, Mussa Rahimee Bander arrested at Central Station, Brandi Nicole Rollins arrested at Poolville Quick Stop and Mohamed Fadal arrested at J & J Grocery.