(Photo by Fine Herbal Incense)

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser says she will introduce emergency legislation to make it easier for law enforcement to crack down on suppliers of the synthetic drug K2, which has been behind hundreds of overdoses in D.C. in the past few months.

“This is not marijuana, the effects are very different and they can be deadly,” Bowser says.

Since mid-July, the District has seen 1,700 overdoses, with more than 1,300 people sent to the hospital, according to D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services.

K2, also known as spice or “Scooby Snax,” is made from a mixture of herbs or spices and sprayed with chemicals that can produce mind-altering effects. Officials say suppliers of the drug have been changing the chemical formula added to drugs to avoid prosecution by the law. While some chemical compounds are illegal, other compounds are not yet on the list of banned drugs.

In response, the proposed legislation would broaden the classification of banned synthetic drugs. So, instead of banning a specific chemical compound, the proposed legislation would ban a class of chemical compounds.

“Now the chemists can really change and tweak the compounds every few weeks or months,” says Kevin Donahue, the District’s deputy mayor for public safety and justice. “So what the legislation will do – it’ll allow us to take criminal action when something that we seize has the base compound of K2 or another synthetic drug.”

The mayor’s office says the emergency measure will reinstate emergency legislation that was originally introduced by Attorney General Karl Racine’s office, but expired in 2017.

Racine has also introduced similar legislation and another measure that would make the drug scheduling change permanent.

“Suppliers have oftentimes been ‘one step ahead of the sheriff,” Racine says.

A vote on the emergency legislation is scheduled for next Tuesday, and the mayor’s office says a temporary and permanent version of the legislation will also be introduced then.

According to the District’s charter, emergency legislation can be enacted to bypass the usual process for measures to become law in the District — not needing Congressional review — and stay in effect for no longer than 90 days.

Previously:

Yet Another Spike In K2 Overdoses Sends 67 To The Hospital
During Spike In Hospitalizations This Summer, Three People Died From K2 Overdoses In D.C.
More Than 200 People Hospitalized As City Grapples With Life-Threatening Batch Of Synthetic Marijuana

This story first appeared on WAMU.