TUPELO - Tupelo has become the first of potentially several Northeast Mississippi cities to ban a synthetic marijuana often called Spice.

Others soon could follow, according to the mayors of several Lee County communities who lauded Tupelo's swift action against the unregulated product.

The county itself, however, remains undecided with its sheriff skeptical of a ban.

The Tupelo City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to prohibit the sale, purchase, use or possession of the Spice and its equivalents, which are openly sold at area convenience stores, tobacco shops and online.

It's punishable by up to $1,000 in fines and six months in jail.

The ban, enacted a week after city leaders learned about Spice, takes effect immediately but extends only to the city limits. The substance remains legal everywhere else in Lee County and throughout the region.

But the prohibition could soon spread. Saltillo Mayor Bill Williams said his police chief and city attorney are drafting an ordinance banning Spice from his community. It is sold in at least one store there.

"As soon as I can get that ordinance prepared I will bring it to the board and recommend we ban it," Williams said. "I have spoken to two or three board members, and the consensus that we need to go ahead and take action."

Also pushing for municipal bans are Guntown and Nettleton. Guntown Mayor Robert Herring said he'll bring it up at the next board meeting and urge the alderman to take quick action.

Nettleton Mayor R.V. Adams said Tupelo can't successfully stamp out Spice without outside help.

"This is something that needs to be a joint effort," Adams said. "It doesn't need to be just one community. We don't need to push it out into the smaller communities."

Baldwyn Mayor Mike James said he supports Tupelo's ban and will urge his board of alderman to pass a similar ordinance - if Spice is discovered in the community. He said he hadn't even heard of the product until news reports surfaced last week but that it deeply concerns him.

Although sold as an herbal incense and labeled "not for human consumption," Spice typically is smoked like marijuana and produces a similar high. It doesn't show up on drug tests, and it isn't classified as an illegal drug by the federal government.

The Lee County Board of Supervisors also has discussed a ban, asking Sheriff Jim Johnson to gather facts about the substance. But while Johnson said Spice use concerns him, he does not favor a countywide ban.

"I haven't seen any government study saying that if this is used in the way it's supposed to be used, as an incense, that it's causing any harmful effects," Johnson said. "The question is, are we going to ban every product that can be misused?

The government, he said, needn't crack down as long as merchants don't advertise the product as legal marijuana or encourage people to smoke it.

"You can huff paint, sniff gasoline, sniff glue, but that's an individual using it in a manner it's not intended for," Johnson said. "At some point the individual is going to have to take the responsibility."

Contact Emily Le Coz at (662) 678-1588 or emily.lecoz@djournal.com.