FRANKLIN CO.—The Smoke Break, a popular tobacconist store at 610 West Main in Benton, was shut down yesterday afternoon (08.09.13) due to what authorities were calling a “search” as part of an “ongoing investigation.”
However, locals in neighboring Saline County are hinting that the search—said to have targeted synthetic drugs—might have been prompted by tips received from Hardin County that enterprising drug sellers at The Gathering of the Juggalos could have picked up their wares there before heading on over to the campgrounds north of Cave-in-Rock.
It’s NOT pot. Don’t do it!
The shutdown of the store was reported to Disclosure at 4:38; this came about two hours after the discovery of a deceased individual in a tent at The Gathering. Others in the tent advised authorities that the young man, confirmed to be a 24-year-old from Ridgway, “came to the tent, shot up something, and keeled over dead.” Within an hour, the “drug bridge,” a popular destination point for attendees of The Gathering, was shut down as the investigation was underway. It was at that same time that the Benton store was also shut down.
While authorities would not confirm that one had to do with the other, some Saline County sources advised that it was their belief that Franklin County and state authorities might have been following up on a lead that a Gathering attendee may have procured some synthetic dope from the location. The Smoke Break was under investigation at this time last year (possibly under the same circumstances) resulting from an investigation into a charge of delivery of a controlled substance analog (synthetic drug). Further, Saline sources pointed to an ISP bust of an attendee early in the festivities, where an untold quantity of dope was seized and the alleged trafficker questioned, as cause to watch the Benton issue closely.
Other synthetics. Avoid them, our sources are telling us.
Whether synthetics were involved in that bust remains unclear at this time. A synth that overdosing Juggalos are reported as testing positive for at the hospital in Rosiclare is 25I-NBOMe, also known as N-Bomb, among other street names.
No one in charge of the search and investigation yesterday would confirm that N-Bomb was being searched for, nor that there was any correlations to The Gathering, but local sources remain insistent that folks keep an eye on the possibility, as that’s just what it might shake out to be. They wished to remind Gathering attendees that synthetics are unsafe in all forms, they they’re like Frankendope…they are NOT real dope (which is bad enough, but at least pot, opium, etc, are natural) and are nothing but chemicals whose effects on humans have of course not been widely tested and vary from person to person. Not that that matters to someone seeking a high and will do anything to get it…but most of the folks overdosing on synths don’t just get toted off to a hospital; instead, the exhibit erratic behavior, and the end result is often a messy and gruesome death. Avoid them.