By Heidi Evans / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Karen Dobner begged Paul to let ban of fake pot to come up for a vote, but never got a call back
Karen Dobner, whose son Max was killed after smoking synthetic marijuana, says Sen. Rand Paul (R.-Ky.) has 'blood on his hands' for holding up a bill that would ban fake pot.
The grieving mother of a teenager who was killed after smoking synthetic marijuana is filled with fury at the lone U.S. senator blocking a ban on the dangerous drug.
Karen Dobner
told the Daily News she’s called Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) 15 times to
tell him about her son Max’s death last year — and to beg him to let the
ban come up for a vote. She never got a call back.
“He’s got blood on his hands,” Dobner said.
Even as she mourns the loss of a boy she says was the perfect son
before he naively tried iAroma or synthetic pot, Dobner is angry that
Paul is putting his libertarian principles before the lives of young
people.
And she says she won’t let him get away with killing a bill that the
House of Representatives has already green-lighted and the majority of
senators are ready to pass.
Paul put a hold on the bill — a prerogative any individual senator can
exercise — three months ago. “I told his aides he cannot survive
politically if he keeps stalling this. We will not let it go,” said
Dobner, a mother of three from Aurora, Ill. “Anything else he does will
be publicized by us. Every time somebody dies we will hold him
accountable.”
Dobner started a foundation called To The Maximus to bring public
attention to the emerging danger of synthetic drugs masquerading as
“herbal” and “natural” highs.
She has also started a blog and newsletter to alert parents and teens
to the unpredictable and harrowing effects of smoking or inhaling the
chemically sprayed leaves.
On Wednesday, Paul told The News he might be willing to release his
hold and allow a vote to proceed if there were some changes in the
proposed legislation. “We are concerned about people being put in jail
for 20 years for marijuana,” Paul said.
Max Dobner died June 14 after he bought a $12 packet of iAroma at the
local mall. Within 15 minutes of smoking it, he phoned his older brother
to say he was having a panic attack and was freaking out, his mother
said.
Dobner, a college student, got into his 1999 Chrysler and drove 100 mph
on neighborhood roads until he crashed into and destroyed a suburban
home, the car lodged inside a baby’s empty bedroom.
He was pulled from the crash, dead from blunt head trauma. The autopsy
found the signature chemicals used to make synthetic marijuana, his
mother said.
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