Chesterfield City Council To Discuss Dangerous New 'N-Bomb' Drug

The Chesterfield City Council is planning to hold a discussion about the emerging threat from a synthetic hallucinogen called “N-Bomb” after a Chesterfield mother came forward about her teenager daughter possibly ingesting the drug by accident at a New Year’s Eve party.

At a meeting Jan. 7, Councilman Bob Nation asked that it be placed on the agenda at the next meeting of the council’s health and public safety committee. City Clerk Judy Nagier said it will likely occur in March but a firm date has not yet been set.

Reached by Patch after the meeting, Nation said as a father of three grown sons he felt sympathy for the concerns expressed by Carley Alves and hopes the city can increase awareness about the drug, which has only started surfacing in crime labs across the country in the last few years but is already responsible for several fatal overdoses.

“My main thought is that I don’t think the city can do a whole lot other than increase awareness of this new synthetic drug and maybe help put it on the radar (of other parents),” Nation said.

Councilman Derek Grier chairs the committee and agreed that the relative lack of information about N-Bomb should be addressed.

“Not being familiar with it, I would like to have our police department give us some additional info and see how we as a city can be proactive,” Grier said.

Nation suggested that this could take the form of an official communication from the city through its email newsletters and communication with school districts in the area to help alert them to the threat posed by N-Bomb as well.

Chief Ray Johnson was not available for comment Thursday, but Capt. Steven Lewis said the police department is looking into the issue.

“We will research and assess the potential danger to our community and gather facts and information to present to the public health and safety committee,” he said.

The substance itself is not yet technically illegal in Missouri, although it could be considered a controlled substance under a federal law. The nickname comes from its chemical structure, 2CI-NBOMe, and similar synthetic drugs from the 2CI family are already illegal.

Neither councilman expressed an interest in immediately proposing any municipal legislation to specifically ban N-Bomb, stating that it would be necessary to explore the matter more thoroughly first.

“The first thing is to educate ourselves and see what we need to do before we have a knee-jerk reaction and start proposing legislation,” Grier said.