Ex-Head Shop Owner’s Synthetic Drugs Conviction Upheld

A federal court has upheld drug convictions in the case against former Last Place on Earth owner Jim Carlson. 

Police say Carlson openly sold millions of dollars worth of synthetic drugs from the headshop in downtown Duluth. 

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that the law that sent Carlson to prison is constitutional, the evidence was sufficient to convict, and key decisions by the judge during Carlson’s 2013 trial were correct. 

Carlson was sentenced to 17 years behind bars and ordered to forfeit $6.5 million.  

The case against him was one of the first major tests in federal court of how effectively authorities can combat synthetic drugs, which are difficult to regulate because the formulas keep changing.