Local tactics to battle drugs have again spread across Arizona.

To fight the synthetic drugs known as spice and bath salts, officials in Maricopa and Pinal counties are following the lead of Yavapai County and targeting not the manufacturers or users but rather the retail stores where these still-legal substances are sold.

Rather than focus on the synthetic drugs themselves, Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk instead filed a temporary injunction in August which labeled the “novelty powders” a “public nuisance” and elicited help from the courts to prevent their sale from 12 retailers in the county.

Retailers who voluntarily sign an agreement acknowledging the danger of the synthetics and a promise to not sell the products were removed from the injunction and further court action.

Polk used the sworn affidavits from more than 100 county residents to persuade Yavapai County Superior Court Judge Patricia A. Trebesch to impose the August injunction.

For the full story, see the Friday, Nov. 9, edition of the Sedona Red Rock News.