Three local smoke shops are under investigation for allegedly selling dangerous synthetic drugs.
Police spent Wednesday afternoon hauling boxes from the Smoker's Video locations.
Jacksonville's only news helicopter Sky Action News Jax caught investigators raiding Smoker’s Video off Beach Boulevard on the Southside Wednesday morning.
Around the same time, masked agents raided the Smoker’s Video off Emerson Street and Interstate 95.
In all, investigators raided three local Smoker’s Video locations, including their Normandy Boulevard shop, looking for illegal synthetic marijuana.
Two years ago, an Action News Jax investigation and independent testing found Smoker’s Video on Normandy was selling K-2, a banned substance.
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Local experts said investigators may have seized a similar drug with just a few chemical changes to make it a legal compound, and there’s a growing concern on the effect synthetic pot is having on the community.
“It's a huge problem. Kids, teens are putting synthetic pot in their vapor devices,” said Dr. Marcus De Carvalho, who specializes in the drug and its harmful side effects.
“This is not just selling drugs. It's about people dying. This is happening to teens.”
Action News Jax found, through a public records search, that the three Smoker’s Video locations belong to Gregory Burris and James Burgin.
Records out of Orange County, Florida, show several racketeering charges for Burris in 2002 in the Orlando area.
An Orlando Sentinel article from 2003 said Buriss was arrested for running an unlicensed porn warehouse.
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi will speak about the raid on Thursday to find out who may have been arrested and charged after Wednesday’s raid.
Cox Media Group
