Synthetic pot beng smuggled to Bay Area inmates in a bizarre new way

San Francisco Chronicle​

23-05-2025

Law enforcement agencies across California, including the Alameda County Sheriff's Office, are contending with novel attempts to smuggle synthetic marijuana into jails and prisons.
Across the state, incarcerated people are being sent court documents disguised as mail from attorneys, with some of the pages soaked or sprayed with synthetic marijuana, commonly known as K2 or Spice.
Santa Rita Jail staff said they're seizing mail coated with synthetic cannabis up to three times a week, and court records show officials foiled multiple Spice-smuggling attempts this year and last year. Officials said jail mailroom clerks and detectives are remaining vigilant.
'Our staff are highly trained, and we continue to adapt our strategies as smuggling methods evolve,' the Alameda County Sheriff's Office said in a statement. 'Ensuring the safety and well-being of everyone in our facility remains our top priority.'
Even so, 'some contraband may occasionally' land inside the jail, sheriff's officials said.
The problem extends beyond the East Bay jail. Three recent Spice-smuggling busts at Santa Rita were apparently among a string of similar smuggling attempts at more than a dozen jails and prisons across the state in recent months, with mailing labels pointing to a single source — the same online postage service account, according to court records.
The ruse to send synthetic marijuana to jails under the guise of mail from attorneys started in Southern California and has become 'increasingly prevalent' in Northern California in the past two years, the Alameda County Sheriff's Office said.
The drug contains synthetic cannabinoids, unregulated, lab-made versions of THC, the active component in marijuana. But synthetic marijuana can be 100 times stronger, leading to more intense and unpredictable effects, even in small doses, according to experts. The effects can include an elevated heart rate, elevated blood pressure, unconsciousness, seizures, hallucinations and anxiety.
In jail, inmates roll up the marijuana-laced paper and smoke it, sometimes mixing it with Suboxone, a medication used to treat opioid addiction, to intensify the effects, according to law enforcement officials.
Synthetic marijuana is colorless and odorless, making it difficult to detect compared with other drugs. Police dogs generally are unable to sniff it out, though sheriff's officials said 'enhanced detection techniques and advances in laboratory testing' have allowed its staff to better identify synthetic marijuana.
The sheriff's office declined to provide detailed information about the synthetic marijuana seizures at its jail, citing ongoing investigations. But documents filed in Alameda County Superior Court offer some details about the three cases in which envelopes were sent to incarcerated men. No one has been arrested or charged in the cases, and it's unclear who sent the synthetic marijuana to the incarcerated men.
In each case, the envelopes listed attorneys as senders, with postage labels created and printed via Stamps.com in an apparent attempt to avoid detection, according to the records. Law enforcement personnel generally cannot open correspondence between prisoners and their attorneys without a warrant, except in some instances, such as in the presence of inmates to inspect for contraband or when there's reason to believe the mail is tied to a crime.
Stamps.com allows users to avoid trips to the post office, which are monitored by surveillance cameras. Using fake information for emails and addresses associated with their online accounts makes it difficult for investigators to trace the source of the mail, according to court records.
Jail staff were apparently tipped off in each case by the fact that the attorneys listed as the senders did not represent the incarcerated men to whom the mail was sent.
The envelopes, sent in July and November of last year and in January, contained copies of court documents from the incarcerated men's cases. The texture of some of the papers was noticeably distinct, and some of the pages were stained, according to the court records. A narcotics analyzer detected traces of synthetic cannabinoids in all three cases, according to investigators.
Detectives traced the Stamps.com account associated with the mail and obtained a record of the labels the account created between July and January. During the six-month period, the account created more than 100 labels, with packages sent to more than a dozen jails and prisons across the state, according to the court records. That included the three envelopes sent to Santa Rita Jail.
One attorney listed as a sender was Michael Primus, who handles bankruptcy cases. He said he was 'deeply troubled' by the scheme and hopes investigators solve the cases.
The other attorney, Joel Harris, who practices estate planning, said he was personally unaware of the scheme until a Chronicle reporter contacted him.
'It sounds clever and sneaky,' he said. 'You'd think the drug suppliers would use the names of criminal defense attorneys' to be more discreet.
Three weeks ago, a state correctional officer called Harris' office as part of an investigation into suspicious mail sent to Corcoran prison in Kings County that listed his firm as the sender, he said. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation declined to comment on the case.
It was unclear what the contents of the mail were. Attorneys' names are also used to send other types of drugs, too — not just synthetic marijuana. At Santa Rita in January, as a deputy and his dog scanned envelopes designated as legal mail, the canine alerted the deputy to an envelope.
The deputy felt two slight 'bumps' on opposite corners of the envelope, according to court records. Inside was another envelope that contained copies of legal documents. Hidden under small pieces of paper taped to three pages were tiny bags of what turned out to be 18 grams of methamphetamine. The case remains under investigation.