Carbon County District Attorney Gary F. Dobias praised the General Assembly and Governor Tom Corbett for enacting a new law to ban the possession, use, and sale of so-called bath salts, synthetic marijuana, 2C-E and salvia divinorum.

The bill was signed by Governor Corbett on Thursday, June 23.The bill quickly moved through the General Assembly and to the governor's desk after prosecutors and law enforcement reported an alarming number of bizarre and dangerous incidents involving new, dangerous drugs that fell outside of he law related to controlled substances."Carbon County saw firsthand the devastating impact of these unregulated, dangerous, and deadly drugs," said Dobias. "This bill will quite literally save lives, and I am grateful that our state's leadership, including Senators Argall and Yudichek and Representative Heffley worked with us to respond quickly and decisively to the emerging threat of synthetic drugs."The new law goes into effect in 60 days, however, District Attorney Dobias called upon the stores that currently sell synthetic drugs to voluntarily take the substance off of their shelves immediately, especially because school students are now on summer break."Store owners have 60 days until the law goes into effect, but I would like to see them do the right thing, for the right reasons and take these drugs off of their shelves before anyone else gets hurt," District Attorney Dobias said. He noted several incidents involving synthetic drugs that put individuals, law enforcement, and the community at risk.The Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association identified synthetic drugs as one of its top legislative priorities in March after law enforcement around the state reported dangerous behavior by people high on the legal, but highly potent substances.