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Schumer: Create Special DEA Unit To Go After Fake Pot

United States Senator Charles Schumer
Senator Charles Schumer

Sen. Charles Schumer says the Drug Enforcement Agency should create a special investigative unit to target online sales of synthetic marijuana.

The New York Democrat says that despite state bans on fake pot, dealers are able to sell it online to users as well as retailers. He says a special unit within the DEA could investigate these dealers and notify credit card companies to stop transactions involved in purchasing the drugs.

Schumer says that federal statistics show some 2,300 emergency room visits in a two-month period were related to synthetic marijuana use, and that poison control center calls about the drug are surging around the nation.

Synthetic marijuana is designed to mimic actual marijuana but can have very different effects on the brain and body.

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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