The Board of Health voted on Wednesday, October 16, to ban the sale of synthetic marijuana products in town, effective October 27.

The regulations ban the sale of a product referred to as "vegetable matter" which can be bought at smoke shops and convenience stores. The product is treated with chemicals and cause intoxication. One of the brand names for the product is "spice."

Although it is often marketed as herbal incense, people use it to get high, and it's essentially synthetic marijuana, said Health Agent Bob Ethier.

"I just know what it looks like because parents are bringing it in saying, 'My kids are addicted to it,'" said Ethier. "Public health and safety wise, it's a no-brainer."

Other board members said they'd also known little about the drug until recently.

Violators will be fined $150 for the first offense, and $300 for each subsequent offense.

The drug is described in the regulations as a substance "the chemical structure of which is substantially similar to the chemical structure of synthetic marijuana ... which has a stimulant, depressant or hallucinogenic effect on the central nervous system," that is substantially similar to the effects of synthetic marijuana.

Although synthetic marijuana products are labeled as not being fit for human consumption, they are sold in smoke shops alongside pipes and other smoking devices.

Brennan's Smoke Shop, which has a location on Main Street in Wareham, stopped selling the product long before the board's decision.

"When we were selling 'spice' we thought it was just the herb. We had been selling that stuff for years and nobody bought it," said Geoffrey Brennan, CEO of Brennan's Smoke Shop.

According to Brennan, at one point, sales of the product began to increase.

"It went like crazy," he said.

If consumed by humans, the substance can cause euphoria, dizziness, irrational behavior and dulling of the senses among other things, according to the Board of Health.

Brennan thought that the product was a smokeable herb like Damiana or Leaf of Lettuce. He says that he was not aware the product had been treated with synthetic cannabinoids.

"Maybe a year later the DEA banned it," said Brennan. "They banned the strand [of synthetic cannabinoid] that was on the market."

In fact, a number of synthetic cannabinoids have been banned including Synthetic cannabinoids  UR-144, XLR11 and AKB48. However, this has not stopped the manufacturer from making and selling spice.

"Here's the thing with synthetic cannabinoids: They ban one strand and the manufacturers of spice come up with another strand," Brennan explained.

Despite the product's tenuous legality, Brennan's decided to keep it off of the shelves after finding out it had been chemically treated.

"We just stopped. We were duped," Brennan said. "Once we found out it was synthetic marijuana, we stopped selling it."