synthetic drugs

The owner of a Duluth head shop and three workers have pleaded not guilty to federal charges of selling synthetic drugs that authorities say were misbranded and marketed as incense, potpourri or bath salts.

President Barack Obama has signed legislation outlawing synthetic drugs, including a substance that led to the death of a Minnesota teen last year. U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar sponsored the legislation.

A prosecutor says a Rochester man may be the state's first person charged with driving under the influence of a synthetic drug. Forty-six-year-old Michael Andrist was arrested near Rosemount Sunday after a brief chase.

Synthetic substances that mimic marijuana, cocaine and other illegal drugs are making users across the nation seriously ill, causing seizures and hallucinations and even killing some.

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar is proposing legislation that would ban a synthetic drug that killed one Minnesotan last week and sent 10 others to the hospital. Klobuchar says Monday that the drug called 2C-E should be illegal. Klobuchar already co-sponsored legislation that would permanently ban chemicals found in synthetic marijuana and other drugs. She says she'll work to include a ban on 2C-E in the existing bill.