Cops: Illegal fake weed sold at Grayslake gas station

Authorities say they have confiscated what’s believed to be fake marijuana from a Grayslake gasoline station where it was sold.

Lake County sheriff’s office Sgt. Sara Balmes said the special investigations unit received an anonymous tip the Marathon station at 735 Belvidere Road was selling synthetic cannabis. She said authorities obtained a search warrant from a Lake County judge Nov. 16.

Balmes said detectives seized 913 grams of the suspected synthetic pot and $1,624 inside the gas station, but charges are pending test results from the Northeastern Illinois Regional Crime Laboratory in Vernon Hills. She said the bust at the Marathon station was part of the sheriff’s office continued effort to erode the sale of the phony marijuana.

In July, the sheriff’s office announced six Lake County businesses were accused of selling illegal synthetic marijuana as a result of an undercover operation that received assistance from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration. The special investigations unit, along with DEA agents, worked the undercover probe. Under a state law effective since January 2012, a wider net was cast in an effort to prohibit all compounds sold over the counter that often are smoked by users to get the same high as marijuana.

State lawmakers previously tried to ban fake marijuana sold as potpourri and called K2, K4 or “spice,” but manufacturers changed the chemical compounds to make the products legal. Bogus weed has been known to be sold under the brand names Kush and Maui Wowie Premium Blend.