Backroom Drug Investigation
There are no arrests yet, but more information is coming out about the ongoing drug investigation into a pair of U.P. businesses.
Police executed simultaneous search warrants at shops in Houghton and Marquette at about 5 pm Wednesday.
The two shops are owned by the same person.
Marquette Police and the Upper Peninsula Substance Enforcement Team searched Backroom Obsessions on South Front Street in Marquette.
At the same time, Houghton city and Houghton County law enforcement searched the Backroom store in Houghton.
Authorities say they seized hundreds of items from the stores.
Marquette Police Det. Capt. Gordon Warchock says all of the law enforcement agencies are concerned that Backroom Obsessions may have been selling controlled substances similar to White Rush and K2 Spice.
White Rush is a brand name for the synthetic drug commonly called ‘bath salts’.
Fake bath salts are highly addictive stimulants that became illegal in Michigan in August.
Warchock says they’ve become a significant community problem since they first reached Marquette County about a year ago.
K2 Spice is a blend of dried herbs that manufacturers sell as incense.
It’s become popular as a substitute for marijuana.
Synthetic marijuana was banned in Michigan last year.