Denton City Council bans K2

by Abigail Allen of North Texas Daily

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The ban includes a list of names used for K2 in an attempt to prevent name changes from invalidating the ordinance.

Denton residents will no longer be able to buy or sell K2 starting Sept. 21.

The City Council voted yes unanimously to ban the drug in Denton at its Tuesday night meeting in City Hall. The ordinance prohibits the use, purchase, possession and sale of the previously legal substance because of its potential health risks, the Denton police chief said. If the ordinance is violated, the crime will be considered a Class C Misdemeanor, said Stephanie Berry of the city attorney’s staff.

A warning on labels of K2 products reads “Not for human consumption.” The drug, developed by a Clemson University chemist during the ‘90s, is intended for use as potpourri, police said.

But police have seen incidences of people smoking the drug, which is known to produce marijuana-like reactions in the consumer. The Denton Police Department has encountered issues with K2 use, Denton Chief of Police Roy Minter said.

“Users may experience far more intense effects compared to smoking marijuana,” he said. “K2 may cause intense anxiety, agitation and even seizures or convulsions by inhibiting the neurotransmitters more efficiently than marijuana and therefore presents a serious danger to the user when overdosed.”

Beginning in May, Minter said, the police department began having run-ins with K2 problems. Some of the cases he presented to the Council to back up his support of the ordinance included people ranging in age from a 17-year-old boy to a 67-year-old man.

Denton joins a list of other North Texas cities that have banned the substance, such as Allen, Cleburne, Mansfield, Dallas and Plano. Although the U.S. has yet to ban K2, some Western countries have already done so, including Austria, Canada, France, Germany and Italy.

Mayor Mark Burroughs said he initially felt uncertain about making the decision to ban the drug as a city.

“This is not the normal function of cities…,” Burroughs said. “Because it is a current problem that appears to be growing in our community, it’s one of those situations that, ‘Does it add anything beneficial?’ … and I think the answer is no.”

Through investigating, the police found 12 places that sell K2, including such stores as The Zebra’s Head and EZ Check.

The ban includes a list of names used for K2 in an attempt to prevent name changes from invalidating the ordinance.

In other business, the Council also unanimously approved a $5,000 increase in tax exemptions for senior citizens and considered a proposed cut in the Denton Fire Rescue budget that would reduce the number of firefighters on the fire engines for a couple of outlying stations from four to three.

The fire department issue inspired several comments from the community and the city government members.

“Overtime is a serious problem with city governments, and we have some serious overtime issues...,” Burroughs said, adding that the city needs to “find a better way” to handle the fire department situation.

Battalion Chief Ken Gold spoke, saying the issue was not about overtime.

“It’s not about overtime, it’s about our ability to do the job effectively and safely,” he said. “... If you cut staff on the fire engines, you’re not trimming fat, you’re chopping muscle and bone.”

The Council will decide on the potential cut at its 6:30 p.m. Sept. 21 meeting in the City Hall Council Chambers at 215 E. McKinney St.

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