The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has outlawed the sale of five chemicals used to make synthetic marijuana.

The DEA filed a final notice today that the chemicals used in so-called incense will be banned for sale for at least a year. The ruling becomes official Tuesday.

Marc Kurzman, a Minneapolis attorney who represents four shops that sell the products, said that he filed petitions for court injunctions today to stop the action.

He has argued that the DEA has no authority to ban the chemicals and that its claims about their effects are false.

The idea that the “whim of one bureaucrat” can “immediately turn people into felons, destroy tens of thousands of small businesses, involving more than $100 million a year in commerce … when the science doesn’t back them up — they shouldn’t be allowed to do it.”

The fake marijuana, sold in drug paraphernalia shops and on the Internet, is marketed under various brands including Spice, K2, Yucatan Fire, and Red X Dawn. The products contain organic leaves coated with chemicals that purportedly provide a marijuana-like high when smoked.

Federal drug officials announced plans for the emergency measure in November, amid increasing reports of bad reactions to the chemicals.

The four Minnesota head shops Kurzman represents had sued to stop the DEA from declaring the products illegal.

But a U.S. district judge threw out the suit in January, saying it was premature because the DEA had not yet acted.

The stores are the Hideaway in Minneapolis, Down in the Valley in Golden Valley, Last Place on Earth in Duluth and Discontent in Moorhead.

Kurzman filed a petition for review today in the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and a new case in U.S. District Court in Minnesota. He said he believed the courts would rule in his clients’ favor.

In the meantime, his clients are getting rid of the products that will be illegal as of Tuesday, he said.

This report includes information from the Associated Press. Emily Gurnon can be reached at 651-228-5522.