Norman Couple Arrested For Selling Illegal Synthetic Drugs To Teens

A Norman couple is in trouble for selling illegal synthetic drugs to teens. These drugs mimic the effect of marijuana, and police say they can be even more dangerous.

Police raided their store not once, but twice.

Norman police have been investigating "Ancient Aromatherapy" for about a month. Investigators say they warned the owners to take the synthetic drugs off their shelves, but they didn't listen.

Now, the doors are closed and the owners are facing felony charges.

Kept in a back room, Norman police say the owners of Ancient Aromatherapy were selling illegal synthetic drugs. For 10 bucks a gram, an undercover officer bought some.

"A large percent of the people that went in and bought were juveniles, to include one female who said she'd done as many as four times a day," Norman Police Capt. Tom Easley said.

Police say they warned owners, Dennis and Christie England, that what they were selling was illegal.

"One of the responses we got at that point was, ‘well, why don't you go after the people that sell glue because that gets you high too?'" Capt. Easley said.

That's when police seized nearly 200 packets from the store. Then, police reports show that soon after, a high school student overdosed on the synthetic drugs and claimed he bought them from the same store.

Despite the warning, police say the Englands had restocked their shelves, and they were arrested.

With names like K2 and Zero Gravity, investigators say those who are making the drugs are trying to get around the law by changing the ingredients.

"They think that's the loophole, the manufacturers do," Capt. Easley said.

But under Title 63 in the Oklahoma State Statutes, police say selling synthetic drugs is illegal across the board.

"Any synthetic substance that in effect acts upon you when you ingest it as a controlled substance, is in fact a synthetic controlled substance, thereby making it illegal," Capt. Easley said.

Police say not only were they selling these drugs in a back room, they also weren't charging sales tax or giving out receipts.

We tried to contact Dennis and Christie England today but they did not return our calls. Police arrested them on two felony counts, and we're told additional charges are pending.