The State - News from April 3, 1985

Legislation to outlaw the manufacturing, possessing or selling of synthetic cocaine, opium and other illegal drugs was signed by Gov. George Deukmejian. Existing law governing controlled substances applied only to the natural drug, such as natural cocaine and opium, not man-made substitutes. The attorney general’s office and Sen. John Seymour (R-Anaheim), who carried the bill, SB252, said the measure was needed to plug a loophole established by a court ruling last year that held “d-cocaine,” a synthetic copy of cocaine that has no physical effect, was not covered by illegal drug laws. The attorney general’s office feared that without the the newly signed law, prosecutors of drug cases could be forced to prove cocaine seized in arrests was the natural drug and not the synthetic copy, a process they say is time consuming and expensive.