DC Council approves emergency bill to crack down on synthetic drug suppliers

Following a summer spike in overdoses from synthetic drugs, the DC Council voted unanimously today to approve emergency legislation to help law enforcement officers crack down on suppliers of the drugs.

Mayor Muriel Bowser proposed the bill last week and urged the council to act swiftly. The proposed measure defines prohibited drugs based on the class of the chemical compounds used in the drug rather than the combination of individual compounds. Currently, drug suppliers are able to circumvent DC law by periodically altering their formula slightly to avoid individual prohibited compounds, according to city officials.

“These drugs move very rapidly, very quickly,” Ward 6 Council member Charles Allen, chair of the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety, said at today’s council meeting. “It’s very difficult for the law to keep pace.”

Synthetic drugs — often nicknamed K2, Scooby Snax or Spice — come in bright packaging with “not for human consumption” printed on the back. They are designed to mimic the effects of marijuana but often cause a range of extreme and unpredictable effects, including physical aggression, vomiting, hallucination and loss of consciousness.

Since April, Allen said, the DC Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department has treated or transported to hospitals nearly 2,000 people with symptoms consistent with overdoses from synthetic drugs, with spikes occurring in July and again in mid-September.

“When people are bringing deadly drugs into our community, we need to be able to hold them accountable,” Bowser said in a Sept. 24 news release. “As we continue working to get these drugs off our streets, we are asking the community to help us save lives by calling 911 if they see someone exhibiting signs of an overdose.”

In 2016, the DC attorney general’s office proposed a similar emergency bill, which the council passed unanimously. But that measure expired in 2017 without the council having taken action on a permanent version. This year, just before the council begin its summer recess in mid-July, Allen’s committee held a public hearing on a new bill, called the “Revised Synthetics Abatement and Full Enforcement Drug Control Emergency Act of 2018.”

“Drug use is a public health concern and not a criminal justice issue,” Natalie Ludaway, chief deputy attorney general for DC, said at the July 11 hearing in testimony supporting the bill’s passage. “The purpose of this legislation is to successfully prosecute distributors and suppliers — not to criminalize further use.”

The hearing marked an initial step in the process of approving permanent legislation before the council period ends in December, and Allen says the committee expects to act on the measure soon.

At today’s council meeting, Allen picked up on Ludaway’s point in his brief remarks before the vote. “This bill is not to criminalize possession,” Allen said. “This is about giving [the Metropolitan Police Department] and prosecutors the tools they need to address the ‘big fish’ who are responsible for the deaths of our residents.”

Allen added that the DC government urgently needs to step up its response to what amounts to a public health crisis.  “I’m challenging all branches of the government to do better,” he said. “We can’t afford to wait.”

In addition to passing the emergency bill on today’s agenda, the council gave initial approval to temporary legislation, which would be in effect for up to 225 days while a permanent measure goes through the regular legislative process. The temporary measure will require a second vote and the mayor’s signature before proceeding to congressional review.

Once the new legislation is in place, the mayor will be empowered to suspend or revoke licenses of businesses that buy or sell synthetic drugs. A spokesperson for the mayor said the administration hopes for action on the permanent bill to avoid any lapse in law enforcement.

Passage of emergency legislation allows the DC government to bypass lengthy procedures that are part of the usual legislative process, including public notice, two council votes and congressional review. Emergency measures last 90 days and require a supermajority of nine council votes, rather than the usual seven, to pass.

A separate DC law adopted in 2017 strengthened penalties against stores selling synthetic drugs, allowing for fines up to $10,000 and for police to shut down those businesses temporarily.

Chris Kain contributed to this report.