WASHINGTON - On Monday President Obama signed into law the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act, which contains a provision that makes synthetic drugs like synthetic marijuana and bath salts controlled substance and therefore illegal to sell on store shelves.

Senator Rob Portman (R-OH), who authored the amendment that is now law, notes on his website the severe and horrific reactions people have had from taking these synthetic products: "In May, two Ohio men high on bath salts were shot by Columbus police as they tried to restrain their aggressive, violent behavior. In other recent cases of violence due to synthetic drug abuse, a man in Miami recently stripped himself of his clothes and tore into a helpless stranger??s face; a Baltimore man ate a fellow student??s heart and brain; a mother high on the drugs abused her young child in New York; and a Waco, Texas man ate his family dog."

The National Conference of State Legislatures reports that at least 40 states have already banned synthetic marijuana products commonly known as "Spice or "K2," and 41 states have banned substitute cathinones, or bath salts, that can have similar effects as illegal drugs such as ecstasy and cocaine.

Oil Express issued an alert yesterday that McLean County has filed a forfeiture case against the owner of a BP gas station in Naperville, Illinois, to seize his store because he used the property to sell synthetic drugs. Mike Emery, sheriff of McLean County, told the news source that local authorities want to "send a message to gas stations and convenience stores known to sell these drugs that the county is serious about getting the product off the shelves."

As a result of the new law, sale and distribution of synthetic marijuana and bath salts is now classified by the federal government as the sale of controlled substances and is treated in a manner similar to the sale of cocaine, ecstasy and other illegal drugs.