SALEM – A 15-year-old Salem juvenile told authorities he had to enter a drug rehabilitation program after using synthetic cannabinoids that he bought from a Route 28 store, according to a federal search warrant

The store, Can You Dig It, was raided by the DEA and Salem police on July 25 as part of a national crackdown on synthetic designer drugs dubbed Operation Log Jam.

So far, no arrests have been made in the Salem case. But a search warrant unsealed in U.S. District Court gives a first glimpse into the investigation that led to authorities seizing roughly 76 boxes of evidence from the store.

DEA agents and Salem police say they posed as customers at the store before buying quantities of cannabinoids and inquiring about small pipes that were for sale, according to the affidavit.

But the interview with the 15-year-old juvenile was cited among the reasons that federal and local police sought permission from a judge to search the premises for illegal substances.

A YouTube video by a man who said he bought the synthetic product called Everest from the Salem store was also cited as evidence in their application.

During the video, the man puts some Everest in a pipe, smokes it and says at one point, “I’m going to keep smoking this because I’m getting stoned.”

The juvenile interviewed by the DEA said that between May 2011 and May 2012, he purchased synthetic cannabinoids weekly from the store.

“During this time, the juvenile’s addiction to the synthetic cannabinoids grew to where the juvenile needed to smoke the synthetic cannabinoids daily,” Paul Callahan, a DEA task force officer, said in a sworn affidavit.

As a result of that addiction, the youth entered a drug rehabilitation program, according to Callahan.

“In addition, the juvenile recalled an incident from 2011 where (he) had observed a 12-year-old female smoke some Everest under a stairwell at the Mall at Rockingham Park in Salem,” Callahan said in court papers. “After doing so, the female became ill and had to be taken to the hospital.”

A Salem police report confirmed that on Oct. 14, 2011, officers and rescue personnel responded to the mall for a reported overdose. Rescue workers found the girl vomiting outside the mall and were told by witnesses she ingested “K-2”, another popular synthetic cannabinoid.

The juvenile told a DEA agent that “it was common knowledge among middle- and high-school-age youths that synthetic cannabinoids and drug paraphernalia could be purchased” from the store.
Federal agents and local police seized approximately 300 packets of suspected synthetic cannabinoids, 26 boxes of glass pipes, $3,200 in cash and other store inventory.