BELLEVILLE, Il. (KMOX) - Metro East authorities seized synthetic drugs, paraphernalia and weapons from fourteen mini-marts and liquor stores today.

Though there haven’t been any arrests yet, St. Clair County State’s Attorney Brendan Kelly says after seeing as much as he saw today, there probably will be. He says the police seized much more than he would have thought. He walked over to a cardboard box full of cash, and pointing to just one of the many bundles said “That’s $60,000.” No word on exactly how much was collected from each store, though the staff is already taking inventory, testing for finger prints and taking the synthetic drugs to a lab for testing.

Kelly says the investigation is ongoing – but families need to know what these drugs look like to protect their children.

Illinois Representative Jerry Costello is proposing legislation that would make the sale of these drugs illegal. He says he went under cover to buy some of these drugs with police, and found that one of the stores selling these drugs was a block and a half from his daughter’s high school.

These drugs are unregulated, and have been known to have unpredictable effects on those who take them. Illinois drug enforcement officials say they’re highly addictive. Kelly claimed that sometimes after just a few uses, young people have tried to commit suicide and have been sent to rehab.

He would not comment on where these drugs are coming from.