A proposed Ohio law seeks to end what a prosecutor calls a "cat-and-mouse" game involving chemists changing synthetic drugs' molecular content to keep them legal.
At issue are the sale and abuse of synthetic drugs such as bath salts and herbal incense, which can cause users to behave in bizarre and dangerous ways.
Matt Donahue, a special prosecutor with the Ohio attorney general's office, says current Ohio law bands a particular chemical compound used to make such drugs.
Donahue says individuals who manufacture the drugs are altering the drugs' chemical makeup in a way that makes prosecuting individuals for possession of such drugs impossible under Ohio law.
A legislative proposal would ban the practice of adding extra compounds to these drugs to skirt the law.