Smoke Shops The Target Of Dumpster Diving

SIOUX FALLS, SD - We've reported on synthetic marijuana and how popular it's become. It is legal to buy, sold under the guise as potpourri  or incense.

But it's illegal to ingest or consume, and now it appears some people will do just about anything to get their hands on the fake pot and they're leaving a mess behind. 

Littering is illegal and so is dumpster diving, but that's not stopping some pot pilfering prospectors. 

"These dumpster divers are going through the dumpsters around midnight to two o'clock in the morning after these businesses close looking for bags from the stores," Terry McGinley said.

McGinley says police told him, they're looking for synthetic marijuana that might have gotten tossed into the trash at a smoke shop on Minnesota Avenue.

"It says crunck remix caution, pot pouuri not a tobacco product and it gives the weight of three grams satisfaction guaranteed not intended for human consumption," McGinley said.

We decided to stop at the smoke shop to see if they are aware of the problem.

Don Jorgensen: What are they looking for? 
Kevin Tryon: I don't know, they could be looking for product I suppose.

But this worker claims they don't throw synthetic pot into the garbage, even if it's packaging has been damaged. 

"I don't know what they are after you know at first we thought credit card numbers, so instead of dumping the garbage, rip it open so they don't have to dig through everything," Tryon said.

The smoke shop has now moved its trash receptacle inside at night to avoid further problems. Because judging by the litter, the dumpster divers like something here and neighbors say judging by the evidence left behind, it's fake pot they're after. 

"There were a lot of these a lot of these labels inside baggies that didn't have anything in them that they used," McGinley said.

There currently is a bill in the South Dakota Legislature banning the sale of synthetic pot.