Two people were taken to Mount Nittany Nittany Medical Center after apparently overdosing Wednesday on synthetic marijuana, State College police said Thursday.
Police were called shortly after 5 p.m. Wednesday to an apartment at 810 S. Allen St. There, according to a police report, a woman and her boyfriend were suffering from breathing difficulty.
They told authorities that they had been using synthetic marijuana purchased the same day, according to the police report.
The substance is scheduled to become illegal in Pennsylvania later this month, per a statewide ban signed by Gov. Tom Corbett in June.
Jamaica Junction, on the 100 block of Sough Pugh Street, sold the synthetic marijuana to the Allen Street couple, according to statements the couple made to police. Neither their names nor details of their current physical condition were released Thursday.
The incident marked the second time in about a week that a call related to synthetic marijuana has appeared on the State College police log. A StateCollege.com effort to reach Jamaica Junction on Thursday afternoon was not immediately successful.
The store is one of three Centre County businesses that District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller targeted with civil litigation in May. All had been selling so-called ‘bath salts’ — effectively fake cocaine — and creating a significant public health concern in the process, Parks Miller said at the time.
County President Judge David E. Grine sided with Parks Miller’s argument, signing an injunction May 11 that banned the sale of ‘bath salts’ in the county. Other Pennsylvania counties took similar steps around the same time.
Then, on June 23, Corbett signed a statewide ban on ‘bath salts’ and similar products, including synthetic marijuana. It will take effect on or about Aug. 22.
Parks Miller could not be reached immediately for comment Thursday afternoon. State College police said total calls related to ‘bath salts’ and synthetic marijuana have dropped off markedly since the countywide ‘bath salts’ injunction took effect in May.
Earlier coverage
