Denver Shop Fined For Selling Synthetic Marijuana

The Colorado Attorney General's Office says a store owner in Denver must pay $160,000 for selling synthetic marijuana known as spice.

Orlando Martinez, who owns O's Pipes & Tobacco, will have to pay the penalty over a period of three years and four months. The Denver Post reports the civil settlement is the largest in the country against a store owner for selling spice.

Investigators bought spice products at the shop during an undercover sting Sept. 9, 2013, and then seized 1,319 packages of the product. The Colorado Bureau of Investigations tested four of the packages, and all tested positive for synthetic cannabinoids.

The Attorney General's Office says some of the products contained a synthetic cannabinoid that was associated with a batch that sent 221 people to emergency rooms.