Banning Synthetic Drugs | Video

Retha Colclasure | 1/23/2013

The parents of a Grand Forks teenager who died after overdosing on synthetic drugs say they don`t want his name reduced to a blurb in a court document. So they`re sharing their emotional story of losing 18 year old Christian Bjerk in June last year. The parents want the legislature to enact stricter laws regarding synthetic drugs.

"My other two sons are forever scarred for the rest of their life at the loss of their brother. He will never be a best man at their weddings or an uncle to their children. We`re asking you to please enact this law with stiff penalties for violating it to help prevent future tragedies from occurring," said Debbie Bjerk.

In the past, the problem had been that manufacturers of synthetic drugs would tweak the compound to create a new substance not regulated by law, called an analog. This law would ban those analogs, as well.

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