PALMER PARK, Md. — Prince George’s County police announced Friday that in one week they seized nearly 1,700 packs of synthetic drugs — a substance they call “crack on steroids.”
On Thursday, detectives conducted search warrants and recovered the drugs at three different locations, with a total street value of about $33,000.
“It’s not like marijuana,” says Maj. Jason Bogue of the Prince George’s County Police Department. “It’s 100 times more powerful than marijuana. It almost mimics PCP.”
The colorful packets include cartoon figures and benign names, such as “Scooby Snax.”
Prince George’s County has not yet seen the kind of proliferation of synthetic drugs that D.C. has, but it’s also behind on laws to battle it.
D.C. police now have the authority to temporarily close businesses caught selling synthetics. No one was arrested or fined in the seizure in Prince George’s County.
Local leaders say they hope to craft legislation that would allow them to more aggressively target the sale of synthetics, which are arriving from China.
“Is it a huge problem in Prince George’s County? We don’t believe so,” Bogue said. “But the reason we’re doing this is to help get ahead of the problem.”
