Not shocking with recent high exposure articles outside of the Northland in places the The Minneapolis Star Tribune.  This will no doubt lead to a legal battle over the rules and regulations on the products in question.

Duluth police shut down Last Place on Earth in eastern downtown Duluth this afternoon, saying they were executing a search warrant as part of an investigation into the sale of illegal synthetic marijuana.

The head shop at 120 E. Superior St. will remain closed until investigators have cleared the scene, police said in a news release.

Police took away a vanload of the head shop’s merchandise and said they would be coming back for more.

Owner Jim Carlson’s son Joey Gellerman, 32, was taken away in handcuffs but was back at the store later in the afternoon. He said police told him he had sold illegal drugs. He was taken to the St. Louis County Jail and then released, Gellerman said. Police told him they would issue a warrant later for his arrest.

Lava Haugen, a clerk at Last Place on Earth and Carlson's girlfriend, said an officer came in today and bought a bag of “herbal incense.” According to an Associated press report, Haugen said police returned and produced a search warrant.

Haugen said about 15 officers are boxing up incense, other items and money, and going through files and records. She said they also confiscated Carlson's cell phone and computer, the AP report said.

Customers who came to the door of the head shop at 120 E. Superior St. were politely shooed away by a police officer.

The Last Place on Earth has been the subject of news reports in recent days because of the large crowds of customers it draws daily for purchase of legal designer drugs, including herbal incense — sold as a legal alternative to marijuana — with names such as No Name, Armageddon and DOA, and bath salts called Insurrection and Lunar Eclipse.

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