ST. CHARLES COUNTY • Police on Thursday raided three shops and seized an undisclosed amount of what they believe are illegal synthetic drugs used to get high.

"The goal is to let these vendors know we're well aware of the fact that they've been blatantly selling these controlled substances," said St. Charles County Sheriff Tom Neer.

If lab tests verify that the items are illegal, he said, the case will be turned over to county prosecutors for possible charges. He said search warrants were issued after tests on identical products obtained during an ongoing three-month investigation showed they are banned.

The raids were carried out at South 94 Bait, Tackle and Smoke Shop, 6301 Weldon Spring Road, Weldon Spring; Retro-Active, 458 Mid Rivers Mall Drive, St. Peters; and the Hook-Up, 1198 Lake Saint Louis Boulevard, Lake Saint Louis. No one was arrested.

Representatives of the stores said the products' supplier gave them copies of lab tests showing they don't contain anything banned by state law.

"What we have is organic and natural," said Pam Tabatt, who owns the South 94 store. "I'm very confident it is legal and will be returned to us."

Sheriff's Detective William Parks said some items are "basically a synthesized cross between methamphetamine and Ecstasy."

"It's horrible stuff," he said.

Store owners said confiscated items include products with names such as Peruvian Kryptonite Bud, Mood Rite and Mad Hatter.

Brenda Grafeman, owner of Retro-Active, said she relied on what the supplier told her store and that there might be contradictory lab tests. After the seizure, she said, she voluntarily pulled similar products from her three other stores in north St. Louis County, Troy, Mo., and Columbia, Mo.

Over the past two years, the Legislature and St. Charles County Council have barred types of synthetic drugs — which law enforcement officials and doctors say have been a growing problem. Neer said synthetic drugs are believed to be involved in two serious road crashes in recent months in the county, including one fatal accident.

Last year, lawmakers made it a crime to possess a marijuana-like substance called K2. They followed that up this year with a law banning so-called "bath salts" and some additional marijuana-type chemical compounds. The new measure, which took effect Aug. 28, also has a general prohibition against any 'synthetic cannabinoid."