Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R,I,C-Batavia) is fighting to keep dangerous synthetic drugs like bath salts out of local stores and off our streets. A recent wave of crime and menace has broken out in Batavia and across the Western New York region as more people have begun abusing the chemical compound marketed as a bathing product. Hawley voted in favor of a law banning the compound most commonly found in the substance, and a federal ban was recently instituted barring the sale and possession of the drug. Manufacturers, however, have traditionally skirted attempts to outlaw the product by tweaking the chemical composition, which has produced grave risks to health and public safety. As a result, Assemblyman Hawley is signing on to several pieces of legislation that will strengthen New York’s ability to eliminate all forms of this dangerous substance and end the terror plaguing local communities.

“Local stores are selling products that are tearing families apart and threatening the safety of our communities,” said Hawley. “The effects that bath salts and other synthetic drugs have had on our community are all too real, with many of us knowing friends, family members and neighbors who have either succumbed to the products or been hurt by someone who has. We must join together in awareness and vigilance of the threats that these drugs pose and do all we can to get these products out of local stores in order to protect the upstanding members of our local community.”

Hawley also is supporting multiple bills banning the sale and distribution of synthetic cannabinoids, another harmful substance that is allowed to be sold in stores due to loopholes in state law. These marijuana-like products are marketed as incense or potpourri and are legally sold in a variety of outlets. Dangerous side effects include hallucinations, vomiting, agitation, increased heart rate, elevated blood pressure and other complications. Hawley voted in favor of an Assembly bill banning synthetic cannabinoids and is supporting further legislation to have a ban adopted into state law.