TAMPA, Fla. - Deputies with the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office arrested more than a dozen convenience store owners and clerks in a month-long undercover drug operation .

What we know:

HCSO said deputies carried out simultaneous raids on Thursday at seven convenience stores, most of them in the University area of Tampa . The convenience stores busted include the following:

According to investigators, store employees were selling a range of illegal drugs from behind the counter, including:

More than $40,000 in cash was also seized during the operation.

Why you should care:

Medical experts said synthetic marijuana, often marketed as "herbal incense," can be up to 100 times more potent than traditional marijuana and is especially accessible to younger or lower-income users.

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