Though he’s been arrested on charges of marijuana, methamphetamine and heroin possession, it’s Peyton Palaio’s alleged involvement with a quasi-legal drug that now has the attention of law enforcement and a grieving father.
“We’re trying to cut the head off the snake,” said David Burnett, whose 16-year-old son Chase drowned in the hot tub at his Fayette County home in March after smoking synthetic cannabis, commonly known as Spice or K2. Burnett and his wife Yvette have filed a wrongful death suit naming Palaio, 25, as the distributor who supplied the drug that ended up in Chase’s hands. “We have to start at the top.”
In July, the GBI executed search warrants on two labs and a distribution company, which share addresses in Atlanta and Marietta, owned by Palaio — part of the agency’s “continuing effort to address the synthetic cannabinoid problem in Georgia at the direction of Governor Deal,” said spokesman John Bankhead.
Outlawing its sale, as Georgia lawmakers did in March, has proven insufficient. Chemists working for synthetic pot distributors have repeatedly circumvented the ban by tweaking the substance’s molecular structure, forcing the Georgia State Board of Pharmacy to issue three emergency rulings this summer reclassifying altered compounds as illegal Schedule I narcotics.
“Chase’s Law,” named for the McIntosh High School honor student and junior varsity soccer player, specifically outlawed AM-2201, which was found in Burnett’s system. His father found an open package of “Mojo Diamond Extreme 100X Potpourri” — a brand name for synthetic pot — next to the hot tub where he drowned.
Palaio’s attorney, Andrew Koplan, said Tuesday his client didn’t even know what Mojo Extreme was when notified of the complaint against him.
“They’ve sued the wrong person,” he said.
The AJC sought further comment from Koplan after obtaining a copy of the GBI search warrants on Thursday but he has yet to respond.
According to an affidavit taken in Cobb County Magistrate Court, GBI agents seized AM-2201 from Palaio’s Marietta lab in July. Agents also uncovered company records detailing the purchase of more than 12,000 pounds of acetone, which is used to dissolve synthetic cannabinoid compounds into a spray that is then applied to plant material for sale.
Though packaged with a warning that it’s “not for human consumption,” synthetic pot has long been known as a cheap high — selling from $5 — by teens and young adults. Plus, it remains largely undetected by drug tests and is readily available at smoke shops and convenience stores.
“It’s mind-boggling that it’s still being sold,” said David Burnett, adding that further lawsuits are likely. “It’s disheartening, to say the least.”
Burnett’s attorney, Kristofer R. Schleicher, said distributors knew long before Burnett’s death of the harmful effects of synthetic marijuana.
“Even though [the distributor of the product] may not have thought this would kill someone, it was definitely reckless,” he said.
Authorities have linked two other deaths in Georgia this year to synthetic marijuana use: Kelvin Melton, 26, of Athens, who died in February of a heart condition brought on by frequent use; and Dakota Dyer, 14, of Bremen, who, according to his parents, committed suicide in March after using the drug.
Similar incidents have been reported across the country, prompting a federal crackdown announced last month. The GBI is now coordinating its investigation with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Bankhead said.
Locally, the General Assembly is expected to address the loopholes exploited by synthetic pot chemists when it convenes in January.
Burnett, meanwhile, said he intends to remain a thorn in the side of all involved in the designer drug trade.
“They are profiting from selling poison,” he said. “If our son’s mistake in death can spare someone else’s life, his death was not in vain.”
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