The synthetic drugs in bath salts and the cannabinoid Spice – which have caused hundreds of overdoses – were banned Monday in an 8-0 vote by the San Diego City Council. The drugs are sometimes sold in smoke shops or other small stores and also sold on the street. Some bath salts are sold under the label of potpourri or incense. The possession, sale, distribution and manufacture of the items was declared a misdemeanor, and violators would be subject to six months in jail and/or a $1,000 fine. “This is really important to my council district,” said Third District Councilmember Todd Gloria, who made the motion to declare the drugs illegal. Gloria said the drug also adversely affects homeless people and that it “keeps people homeless” if they use it. Second District Councilmember Lorie Zapf seconded the motion. Councilmember Marti Emerald was absent. San Diego is the first city in the state to pass a law outlawing these synthetic drugs, according to City Attorney Jan Goldsmith. The state outlawed five versions of Spice in 2011, but chemists changed the way the drugs were made, and they were therefore not classified as illegal. The ordinance will require a second reading in June for it to become official, and it is expected to go into effect in July. Scott Chipman, who represents San Diego for Safe Neighborhoods, said his group was “strongly in support” of the measure. The use of these drugs is known to cause seizures, hallucinations, coma, vomiting, agitation, aggression, foaming at the mouth and death. People began collapsing from these drugs downtown last November, and all had purchased them from people on the street. Emergency medical personnel have responded to 412 incidents with these drugs, according to a City Council report. There were 78 incidents in District 3, 302 incidents downtown and with 32 incidents elsewhere from last November to this March, according to the report. Ambulance charges for Spice overdoses generated $1.5 million from March of 2015 through last April, according to the City Attorney’s Office. A total of 379 people were taken by ambulance, and the overdoses accounted for 728 transports to hospital emergency rooms, with some of the same people overdosing more than once. Spice looks like marijuana, while bath salts look like cocaine, Council was told. They are made when synthetically created chemicals are sprayed onto a plant substance. Bath salts, also known as synthetic cathinone, are made in granular form, similar to salt. “This ordinance is going to be a model for other cities to follow and set a gold standard throughout the state,” said Mayor Kevin Faulconer at a press conference. “The unpredictability of the potency, combined with the changing chemical structure with which they are made, makes it a game of Russian roulette when users decide to ingest a synthetic drug,” said Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman.