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SALT LAKE CITY -- The owner of a traditional tobacco and cigar store says smoke shops are getting a bad rap thanks to a product called Ivory Wave.
Joan Cvar is the proud owner of the Tinder Box smoke shop -- but she doesn't like calling it that. She says people don't think of tobacco and fine cigars anymore when they hear "smoke shop." Instead, they think of drugs.
We're always being tarred by the same brush as the supposed illegal substances.
–Joan Cvar, smoke shop owner
#cvar_q
"We're always being tarred by the same brush as the supposed illegal substances," Cvar said. "They say ‘smoke shop.' Well, we're in a beautiful room with high-quality cigars and tobacco that people truly enjoy. It's not a quick high."
The places she's talking about sell products like Ivory Wave -- a substance marketed as bath salt, but when ingested or inhaled, it gives a high similar to meth.
KSL News went into a Salt Lake City smoke shop and found an array of bath salts for sale. Twenty dollars later, we had a tiny sampling of white powder.
Inside the store, they kept little vials of white powder, along with other types of bath salts, right up near the front of the store. When we asked what they did, saying we had never used them before, the clerk said, ‘If you want me to tell you what I'm supposed to tell you, you're supposed to put it on your feet.'"
If you're licensed as a smoke shop, sell smokes -- or cigarettes, or tobacco products. But don't sell chemicals that are going to harm the public.
–Sgt. Scott VanWagoner
#vanwagoner_q
"If you're licensed as a smoke shop, sell smokes -- or cigarettes, or tobacco products -- but don't sell chemicals that are going to harm the public, which they know they're going to be ingested, despite the markings on the packaging. They know," said Salt Lake City Police Sgt. Scott VanWagoner.
We asked officials at the Utah State Department of Commerce, who regulates what products smoke shops can sell, and they directed us to the state health department.
Officials at the Utah Department of Health declined our request for an interview. Their response was Ivory Wave and other synthetic drugs like Spice are not currently illegal, so they can't regulate them.
That's frustrating to Cvar.
"They're just using this term ‘bath salts,' obviously to get around calling it synthetic meth. You know, that's it," Cvar said.
There is currently a bill up at the Utah Legislature that would ban many synthetic drugs like Spice. After a KSL 5 News report Monday night, the bill's sponsor added Ivory Wave.
Cvar supports the bill.
E-mail: jstagg@ksl.com
