Synthetic drugs, packaged and sold as incense and potpourri, were taken from store shelves throughout the state Friday after Gov. Robert Bentley sign an emergency order banning their sale.

The emergency order enabled members of the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Board and other law enforcement agencies to begin seizing the drug, known as “Spice” and “K2”.

No arrests were made as the drugs were removed from stores.

Authorities along with state health officials said the synthetic marijuana products are dangerous drugs instead of harmless herbal incense, as indicated on the label.

“This is a designer drug,” Gov. Robert Bentley said. “It has the potential to destroy lives.”

Bentley said he learned about the product after a recent meeting with parents whose children died as a result of smoking the products. One child overdosed, while the other committed suicide.

State Health Officer Dr. Donald Williamson moved to classify the synthetic drugs as a controlled substance. That order takes effect Oct. 24, allowing time for word to get out that it will be illegal to consume, sell, purchase or possess the drugs after that date.

Williamson said people wrongly thought Spice and similar drugs were safe because they were legal and readily available. The effects of the drug are sometimes long-lasting and can be deadly, especially for children and teens, he said.

Lauderdale County District Attorney Chris Connolly applauded Williamson and Bentley’s actions, promising to aggressively prosecute anyone possessing or selling the products.

“For the last several years, law enforcement and my office have been struggling to find a solution to the epidemic caused by this new class of drugs,” Connolly said.

He said the drugs marketing primarily targets young people.

“And while they are marketed as not for human consumption, they are sold exclusively for human consumption,” Connolly said.

The synthetic drugs sell for $20 to $40 a package.

Lt. Gene Schrieber, of the local ABC office, said agents targeted about 35 businesses in Colbert, Lauderdale and Lawrence counties Friday. He said since city ordinances had been adopted in Red Bay and Russellville making it illegal to sell the product, agents did not target Franklin County businesses.

“We cover 11 counties, so we complied a list of known locations because we could not get to all of them,” Schrieber said.

He said agents didn’t encounter any problems.

“Most of the places, the people there were very cooperative,” Schrieber said. “And as the word got out, later in the day, business owners started pulling it off the shelves before we got there.”

Schrieber said there were approximately 35 businesses his office has targeted “and we went to about 20 of them” Friday. He said more than 650 pounds of the synthetic drugs were seized in the three counties.

Authorities said at one location, 300 pounds of the synthetic marijuana were confiscated.

“There are 453.5 grams in a pound and the average selling price is $10 per gram, so just today, we’re talking about nearly $3 million of this stuff that is off the shelves,” Schrieber said.

Some of the names of the synthetic drugs that were seized by local agents included — “Kryp2nite”, “Mystique”, “Mr. and Mrs. Marley”, “Purple Haze”, “Heavy Metal”, “Big Blue”, “Fat Sack” and “The Devil’s Lettuce.”

Authorities said the product could be ordered from the Internet in bulk and then packaged to be sold.

“We had gotten complaints from parents and other law enforcement agencies about this stuff for the last few months,” Colbert County Drug Task Force Director Curtis Burns said. “It was not illegal and there was nothing we could do at the time. There is no doubt there is a problem.”

Connolly said some of the products are laced with chemicals that can give a hallucinogenic effect.

“It is by far more dangerous that smoking marijuana,” he said.

He pointed out that since October 2010, the Regional Poison center at Children’s Hospital of Alabama reported receiving 101 calls from persons exposed to “K2” or “Spice.”

“Three of those were children 6-12 years old, 35 were teenagers and 32 were in their 20s,” Connolly said.

He said side effects included neurological, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, respiratory, dermal and ocular.

“There’s no question, this is some bad stuff,” Burns said.

Schrieber said at one store, he had a woman come up to him in the parking lot, shake his hand and thank him for removing the product.

State officials said herbal products treated with chemicals that mimic marijuana are not new in Alabama. The Legislature passed a law in 2010 to ban one type. Chemists changed the chemical makeup a little and the product again became legal.

“You can change that and make a new drug and have the same or similar effect,” Bentley said.

Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, and Rep. Allen Farley, R-Birmingham, will sponsor the legislation making it a felony to sell or possess the drugs.

Tom Smith can be reached at 256-740-5757 or tom.smith@TimesDaily.com.

TimesDaily Montgomery Bureau Chief M.J. Ellington and the Associated Press contributed to this report.