Criminal chemists already have found a way to circumvent a new Hawaii law to crack down on synthetic drugs, but local authorities are fighting back.

Act 29, signed by Gov. Neil Abercrombie in April, made it illegal to sell, buy or use nine families of previously legal synthetic marijuana and stimulants.

The law, which local officials say is among the nation’s most proactive, curtailed public distribution of much of Hawaii’s synthetic drug trade. But drug manufacturers and dealers soon began bringing to Hawaii another family of these drugs, which hadn’t yet been identified as illegal but had similar characteristics to others covered in the law.

The latest version, called tetramethylcyclopropanoylindols, is similar to the previously banned Spice and is sold under names like Blue Kush and UR-144 mostly in “smoke shops” or similar stores. It’s temporarily illegal under a special emergency order issued by the state Department of Public Safety in October, but officials will have to go before the Legislature again next month to pass a new law.

“Government is always in the catch-up stage,” said Keith Kamita, deputy director of public safety. “We have to be vigilant about these new drugs because maybe our kids are going to try them. If we can get them to think twice, maybe we’ll save a life.”

While it’s nearly impossible to create a law that would control all versions of a synthetic drug, the department is able to temporarily label formulas considered a threat as Schedule 1 drugs.

The power to temporarily schedule drugs before they are written into law gives DPS and local law enforcement agencies the opportunity to respond to threats sooner, Kamita said.

“The idea behind emergency scheduling is to save people from getting seriously hurt,” he said. “Once the Legislature is back in session, I expect that they will support us. They have been very proactive.”

Still, Hawaii’s law enforcement officials say it’s difficult to halt the distribution of new synthetic drugs because laws can’t keep pace with the underground market. When a synthetic drug is scheduled, chemists try to find unnamed families of these drugs or alter the drug’s molecules.

“Manufacturers and dealers watch what the states do and keep changing the formulas because it’s a moneymaker,” Kamita said.