The Rock Springs Police Department confiscated herbal cigarettes from a local pet store on Wednesday after new legislation added a substance found in the smokes to a list of illegal substances.
Officers and Detectives from the RSPD executed a search warrant at Zoobecks Pets and Supplies, located at 501 Center Street, at about 4:34 p.m. Wednesday. The warrant resulted in the confiscation of the store’s inventory of “Next Best Thing” (NBT) Herbal Smokes.
“Citizens need to be aware that the NBT Herbal Smokes are now classified as a Schedule I Controlled Substance under Wyoming State Statute,” said Alison Deters, RSPD Public Information Officer.
Jim Rubeck, owner of Zoobecks Pets and Supplies, said today that he was unaware of the legislation changes until informed by officers. Rubeck willingly surrendered all NBT products after being informed that they were no longer legal.
“We willingly would have brought the product to the police or destroyed it ourselves had we been aware of the recent changes,” said Rubeck.
NBT is one type of tobacco alternative that contains 5F-AMB. The 5F-AMB classification means that NBT herbal smokes contain synthetic marijuana which is illegal to sell and/or possess in Wyoming.
Rubeck noted the illegal substance found in NBT products was added to the list of Schedule I Controlled Substances so recently that it is not found in the 2016 State Statutes released to attorneys to take effect July 1, 2016. Instead, the substance was part of an emergency list classifying it as a Schedule I Controlled Substance.
“The substance compound that they say is in it was not on the packaging. We were unaware that anything like that happened,” said Rubeck.
Zoobecks started carrying NBT products about four years ago. Rubeck says the store took all the steps to ensure the product was legal when they began to stock it, and it was a popular item in the store.
Rubeck noted the store began selling NBT products because there was a demand in the community that the store could fill while diversifying their products.
“Businesses today have to be diversified to survive,” said Rubeck.
Rubeck said he appreciates the officers for doing their jobs and thanks them for being professional when they executed the search warrant.
He said the community has shown a lot of support after hearing about the incident.
“We would like to thank all of our customers for their patronage and their understanding and support,” Rubeck said of the community.
Sweetwater County Attorney Daniel Erramouspe said his office does not intend to pursue charges in relation to this matter.