Undercover investigators found head shop employees selling mislabeled bath salts and other synthetic drugs that mimic cocaine and marijuana, and telling customers how to use them, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said yesterday. His office filed lawsuits in 12 counties to stop the illegal sales. The lawsuits accuse 16 stores of violating state labeling laws requiring that products sold to consumers show, among other things, what’s in them and where they are made and packed.
Investigators posing as customers found brightly packaged substances described as potpourri, incense, butterfly attractantor not labeled at allfor sale and most lacked comprehensive ingredient lists, said Schneiderman, who announced the lawsuits at a news conference in Rochester, where two of the stores are located. The other shops are in Buffalo, Commack, Syracuse, Watertown, Binghamton, Utica, Plattsburgh, Albany, Poughkeepsie, Nanuet, Oceanside and Baldwin. “We discovered that head shop employees were giving tutorials on how to use dangerous intoxicants,” Schneiderman said.
