I hope they get the message because this is a problem. Good job Sheriff.

Is it just a coincidence that NOcco is sending out letters every month to get his name out just for elections? Seems like a lot of public tax dollars are being spent to make sure Chris NOccos name appears in everyone's mail box on a regular schedule.

Don't even get me started on the faux PSA commercials that are purchased with tax dollars to promote the Sheriff. Can't even go to a movie in Pasco without NOcco reminding me to wear my safety vest when I'm on a boat...I haven't been on a boat in years.

Bob White is doing a great job of mentoring NOcco. Of course NOcco was a great politician before he was appointed by Pink Slip Rick Scott anyway, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised he is working the system on the tax payers dime.

This is ridiculous. Not only do manufacturers have plenty of chemicals to choose from, there are plenty of Spice varieties available as I type here that do the same, if not more, than those banned. So it seems we begin a p***ing contest over who can come up with something before lawmakers can ban it. The solution is this: Declare the substance known as Spice to be a drug delivery system (as cigarettes are) which will limit their availability to those 18 and over. That keeps it out of the hands of kids (at least from store sales) and if someone is an adult and chooses to smoke something labelled NOT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION that is their choice as an adult. Just as some adults choose to drink alcohol or smoke tobacco. Are we really going to tie up valuable time in Tallahassee or elsewhere deciding which chemical analogues to ban when it can be managed in a much easier way? Of course we are. We have become a society in which prohibition is always the solution and actually taking the time to find an effective one is too much trouble. Good job of creating an even bigger black market. We just keep repeating the same mistakes over and over...

I am so glad Sheriff Chris Nocco is taking a very public stand on this and other important topics. It's important to have a Sheriff that connects with the people he swore to protect and serve!

Although I admire Nocco efforts, we can't protect people from using products in a harmful way. I have seen people huffing spray paint in cars at the mall, not kids... So are we going to make spray paint illegal? It has to be about education. Fear doesn't work, we have seen that with prohibition.
This is a waste of tax payers money!

I wish they were as diligent about enforcing all the laws set out by the State of Florida. Guess we'll see come Memorial Day if everyone in my neighborhood, a bird sanctuary, is setting off illegal fireworks and the Sheriff Dept just looks the other way. Seems like the Pasco Sheriffs dept picks and chooses what laws they want to enforce.

First - until you have a family member that is an addict you will never know the pain that we do not wish on our family member nor do we wish the pain we endure because of a family member on anyone. I might need to remind you that a person does not chose to be an addict and there is no profile to cover an addict - rich, poor, black, white, educated, uneducated, crook, law enforcement. And I also realize you can not protect people from themselves. But we all need to be made aware of chemicals that can be dangerous to ourselves and ALL those around us. Example: person on these drugs - gets gun - walks into store and kills you or a loved one all because people are not informed of the dangers. I prefer my adult children not do any drugs but I would rather them do a NATURAL drug before they do chemical drugs or ANY kind. Age old story why not legalize pot. Oh politicians, lawyers and our government make money off of pot when we could legalize that and tax the heck out of it. The need for these drugs drives up the need for money for addicts - the result is they do not make enough money to buy their drugs and you become a victim (whether personally or thru rising prices in store due to theft) I would rather it be kept off the shelves. Oh and on a side note more and more offenders detox in jails costing more money. Instead of just housing them put them in drug and education programs to lower the chance of reoffending. By the way .Nocco has been the best since 1983

The prohibition of Cannabis goes far beyond what Pharma would lose if we won the battle and got it legalised. The Hemp plant can produce oil that will do anything that the oil we import will do. It can even be used to make biodegradable plastics, textiles, very lightweight and strong building materials and is an extraordinarily healthy food source. That is even before we look at how it has killed cancer and the fact that if we had legal cannabis here the pill problem would decrease big time. Why? Because legitimate users would be able to drastically cut down if not eliminate opiate drug use. Many people cut down pill and alcohol use with the assistance of cannabis. Anyone that thinks cannabis is worse than pills or alcohol needs to do some research.

The tax revenues are huge and potential jobs created are more than a few. Ah, but a big part of the DEA budget is dependent upon pot busts. There is a group called LEAP made of of law enforcement professionals that oppose prohibition. They really care about their fellow cops and citizens and what would be the best thing for all parties. http://www.leap.cc/ if Nocco joined them I would rethink my position on him. But right now he seems to be a young man on a power trip that is enchanted by some people around him.

I think it is a major problem in Pasco County. I don't think that Spice, K2 or any of this should be able to be sold to anyone let alone to sell it at a convenience store. To many people are using this and saying it is a good thing. Well I do not. Especially when older people are buying it and doing it in front of children, or even doing it with teenager's.

Prohibition only guarantees a black market. Black markets don't ask for ID and add to the mystery of whatever is being sold. Lets see, we could just go ahead and ban loose incense, right? I mean too bad for the people that actually make genuine incense for ritual use or just to make their space smell nice. I think we should ban alcohol (again) after all, look at all of the death attributed to it. Kids get a hold of that too. It's dangerous so it should go. Spray paint, glue etc should also be banned, we know what happens with them. We really should have laws banning everything that could possibly be bad and give the law the power to lock up anyone that speaks up against it. That way none of us would be responsible for making decisions about 'dangerous stuff' then would we look at why these things are so attractive to so many people? Probably not.

glad u realized that Jose. I was like what the heck i think she is a superstar right now,lol

It's nice to meet other people that have some common sense! Thank you Diane, Jose and Michael. I'm awake Michael... Our laws against prohibition didn't work in the past. That is why we have organizations like http://www.leap.cc/
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.

Wow, well, now I will probably clam up. Guys, read the article I wrote here about Synthetic Marijuana. It was published the same day as this story was. It's time for people to start speaking up and moving forward instead of retreating into fear. Somewhere along the line good sense was tossed out the window. I am not saying this stuff is not dangerous, clearly it is.
Haven't we had enough of somebody else creeping under our doors, wanting to control everything we do? Okay, that may be an overstatement, but it is starting to feel that way. Do we really need laws to be made and threats from guys with guns for the message NOT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION to make sense? It seems the answer is yes, or at least that is what some people want. It's kind of funny how laws banning 'synthetic marijuana' buzz through but laws to just label synthetic foods get squashed.

What a fag. Go do something worth while. Always worried about the wrong things. He better not drink or smoke cigs. Pretty much the same thing. Mind altering and stimulating. What a waste of money.

Its all a game pot heals spice kills ... If pasco is cracking down on this unnatural dangerous crap yay... Its obviously still legal in pinellas I know 3 stores still selling it... Wanna save lives... Get harder on this and wipe it out ... LEGALIZE marijuana so that nobody wants the fake crap thats getting everyone sick... Coughing. Central nervous sys probs. I havent seen anyone go crazy on it but have heard some real pot smoking vets say they had racing heart anxiety sick feeling coughing I hear that the spray they use on it is made in china they already trying to kill our pets with rotton dog food now were gonna let them kill our humans. Smoking crack is not even as dangerous as this crap... No im not siggesting smoking crack.... Please get that shZ OUTTA FL

Would you like to know what the real problem was with this stuff? Underage kids smoking it (should have been regulated, ..21 yrs or older) and as a result, many young people ending up in the ER! On the other hand, the last time I checked, there are people that continue to be admitted into the ER, as a result of drinking too much alcohol. The problem was not the herbal incense, but the KIDS (primarily) were getting sick from it. I am 42 years old. I am a while male and I make over $300,000.00 per year. I am also a family man with two children and I have been married for 19 years. I am a responsible and law abiding citizen. I used to find pleasure in smoking herbal incense (and yes, the incense with the chemicals that have since been BANNED) and I smoked it every day for approximately 3 years. I would typically smoke around 1 gram per day. I was always very careful, and never had one negative experience. The reason why is rather simple to understand. I did not smoke too much of it. Moderation is the key, and making sure consumers are 21 years (or older) was something that should have been put into place long ago.

However, taking the easy way out and simply banning the product and running it underground, causing thousands of residents in Pasco County to go to drug dealers for their herbal incense, wasn't the smartest move. I think the government just made the "war on drugs" that much more difficult for them. It didn't have to be this way either.