The San Diego County district attorney and sheriff have sent letters to nearly 100 businesses countywide, warning of criminal or civil penalties if they ignore a new state law banning the sale of synthetic drugs, including an increasingly popular and dangerous drug known as "bath salts."

"We want to be proactive to let San Diegans know how dangerous these drugs can be," said District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis recently. "'Bath salts' in particular have been linked to an alarming number of calls to poison control centers and scary emergency room visits."

The synthetic drugs targeted by the new law include substances that go by the street names Spice and DMT. According to UT San Diego which ran this story in August 2011, the compounds can cause psychotic episodes, seizures, hallucinations, extreme anxiety and cardiac arrest.

Letters have gone out to mini-marts, convenience stores and other businesses that have been known to sell "bath salts," according to Dumanis and Sheriff Bill Gore. Potential sanctions include fines and imprisonment or permanent injunctions and substantial civil penalties.

The law went into effect in October.

In early October, Ramona Patch contacted authorities at Ramona Unified School District, the two local high schools and the sheriff's substation to find out about any local use of the synthetic drugs, after a parent contacted us. She was concerned about her son being found at school with one of the drugs. The mother wanted other families to know that the drugs are being used in Ramona, just as in other communities. She asked to remain anonymous.

She wrote, "It is being sold in at least two stores in town ... I only learned about this ... drug two weeks ago when my own son got caught with it at school. The word needs to get out to other unknowing parents in Ramona. Hopefully a law is passed that's in the works now to make this terrible drug illegal. They couldn't even reprimand my son at school because it's legal ... even though we requested it..."

The new law—AB 486—authored by Assemblyman Ben Hueso, D-San Diego, makes it illegal to sell, dispense, distribute, furnish, administer or possess for sale the synthetic stimulants known as "bath salts." The bill carried an urgency clause so that it went into effect immediately, rather than on Jan. 1 this year. It does not address simple possession for use. Hueso is reported to be working on possible legislation on that subject.

Montecito High School principal Cynthia Nakhshab told Patch that she understood the drugs were easy for students to find. Ramona High School principal Tony Newman said that he is always concerned about the effects of drugs. They preferred not to comment further, referring us to the Sheriff's Department.

Sgt. Christina Bavencoff said that there did not appear to be much of a problem locally, although there was no field test in use to determine whether people had been using it. Usually, she said, people are apprehended for being under the influence of drugs but the exact drug may not be known. She referred us to the Sheriff's Crime Lab in San Diego to see whether a test for "bath salts" and "spice" was available or in use.

According to the supervising criminalist at the Crime Lab, Richard Debevec, the lab does not test blood or urine for synthetic drugs. That effort would have to be contracted out as a special request via a contracted lab. The standard toxicology screen does not detect them, Debevec said.

He told Patch by email that, "'Spice' is a mixture of herbs and spices that typically is sprayed with a synthetic compound chemically similar to THC, the active ingredient in marijuana.

"There are hundreds of these synthetic compounds, but only five are controlled under the current California law," he said.

--City News Service contributed to this report.