Harrisburg Police cited an Ozark man on charges of unlawful possession of synthetic cannabis and unlawful possession of "bath salts" Thursday morning.
Officer Tom Leverett observed a man later identified as Fred L. Brantley, 58, Ozark, leave a Harrisburg business without apparently having made a purchase, get in the passenger seat of a truck and the driver of the truck drove away on Main Street committing a traffic infraction, according to Chief Bob Smith.
Leverett stopped the vehicle and asked Brantley why he had left without purchasing anything. Brantley said he had bought items commonly known as K2 synthetic cannabis and "bath salts" which is a sort of synthetic cocaine, both of which have recently been outlawed at the federal level and by city ordinance, Smith said.
Smith declined to name the business because as of Friday morning there was not proof the items had been purchased there and intends to investigate the business, he said.
The synthetic drugs can have unpredictable and dangerous effects on people, Smith said.
He said Carbondale Police recently arrested a man who was running naked through University Mall in Carbondale under the influence of one of the drugs and it required seven Harrisburg Police Officers to restrain a man under the influence of one of the drugs at Harrisburg Medical Center.
