Synthetic marijuana. (DEA)

It’s cheap and has code names like “Happy Hour,” “Spice” and “K2.”

But it can no longer be found in stores.

The New York State Health Department banned the sale of synthetic pot on Thursday, after doctors and politicians raised concerns over the chemicals and side effects of the pot-like product.

Last week, New York State Health Commissioner Dr. Nirav Shah warned doctors that chemicals in the pot-like product have had serious health effects on users, death and acute renal failure.

“Calls to New York State Poison Control Centers have increased dramatically in 2012 and severe side effects including death, acute renal failure, as well as other significant negative effects to the cardiovascular and central nervous systems have been linked to use of these products,” Shah said in a statement.

At the beginning of March, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration took emergency action to classify five of the chemicals in synthetic marijuana as illegal substances, making the selling and possessing of these chemicals illegal in the United States.

The chemicals in synthetic pot are combined in order to simulate the high created by THC in marijuana. The condom-shaped packets, which are often disguised as potpourri and contain a “not for human consumption” label, are usually smoked.

New York is the 39^th state to ban the synthetic pot and U.S. Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) is pushing for a bill that would ban selling any kind of synthetic pot.

“The drugs that are sold as ‘synthetic marijuana ‘are new and poorly understood, but reports from poison control centers show that they are toxic and can be very dangerous,” New York City health commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley told Fox News New York. “Because they are sold in stores, people may believe they are safe and that use of the drugs is increasing rapidly in New York City. With this order we are getting them off store shelves and telling everyone in New York City to never use them.”

We can only wonder what the next drug craze will be.

Greenwich Village McDonald's.

It’s been a site of scorn from residents and politicians for a series of violent episodes that have rocked the neighborhood.  Police have said it needs as much security as a rowdy bar. Except its not a rowdy bar, it’s Greenwich Village’s local Mickey D’s.

The fast-food chain, which is located on West 3rd Street, has been the site of three violent incidents in the past year, compelling City Council Speaker Christine Quinn to launch a boycott of the restaurant until they buff up security on Monday.­­Quinn — along with support from Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Community Board 2 and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer — are calling for the chain to hire an off-duty cop to police the restaurant at times when there is a potential for trouble.

“The first thing this McDonald’s needs to do is engage better security through the paid detail option that our police department offers,” Quinn said outside the restaurant Monday. “Those are off-duty police offcers trained in how to do this type of security. This will be a huge step forward, make a difference and a show of good faith.”

Additional security measures include giving police access to the restaurant’s security cameras and walling off seating at night so customers can’t linger in the restaurant.

The incidents that have sparked these demands have drawn critical attention from the Internet.

Most recently, the McDonald’s was the site of a large St. Patrick’s Day brawl on March 17. Police were called, but did not arrive on the scene until after the fighters dispersed. No one was charged in the incident, but a 42-second video shot by a customer chronicles the fight.

In October 2011, an employee beat two women with a metal pole, after the pair leaped across the counter and attacked him. Cashier Rayon McIntosh’s charges were dropped after he testified that his actions were out of self-defense. The disturbing confrontation was also captured on video.

Last spring, 26-year-old Damian Furtch was the target of an anti-gay hate crime outside of the restaurant, which left him with several facial injuries.

McDonald’s franchise owner Carmen Paulino said in a statement Monday that the restaurant hired a security guard last summer to work Wednesday through Saturday nights, but has not responded to the request that she hire NYPD support.

“The safety of my employees and customers will always be a priority,” she said. “I am committed to doing the right thing.”

A letter to Paulino signed by Quinn, Nadler, Stringer, Senator Tom Duane and State Assemblywoman Deborah Glick has asked for a meeting the week of April 2 to discuss these provisions.

Until that day, though, food is not the only threat at McDonald’s.

Carole King must live nearby. (MTA)

The MTA is going beyond the call (literally as phone calls and angry messages are filling up their inboxes) of duty to ensure that residents on the Upper East Side are getting a good night’s sleep.

After repeated complaints that residents are being kept awake at night by construction at the future 72^nd Street subway station, the MTA will begin offering nighttime visits to apartments around the area. Engineers from the agency will start their visits starting around 10 p.m. in order to hear the noise and feel the pain that residents are going through while construction continues on the Second Avenue subway line.

“[The agency] is still working on addressing the ongoing noise issues after 10 p.m.,” MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz said in a statement. “Engineers offered to visit a sample of apartments to assess the noise in order to evaluate the residents’ experience with respect to a potential mitigation strategy.”

After a meeting on Thursday night, the MTA also said that it would try to drill earlier in the day in order to lower the noise level so residents can sleep better. Along with the nighttime visits, the MTA is also considering installing monitors in some of the apartments around the area, in an effort to track the noise level of construction throughout the night.

The MTA’s decision was prompted in part by a letter earlier in the month from State Senator Liz Krueger and others asking for relief from the latest drilling.

"Residents are doing all they can to adapt to living with the disturbance of this project and there is a limit to how much we can ask our constituents to endure," the letter said. "There comes a point when individual residents are unable to mitigate the effects of this type of work and must be granted some reprieve."

Residents in the area have also complained about the dust and smells that have come from the construction site.

The new subway line, which will be dubbed the T Line, will stretch down the East Side of Manhattan from 125^th Street in Harlem to Hanover Square in the Financial District.

The project is still in phase one of development, which began in April 2007, and is expected to be completed by December 2016. However, night drilling around the station is supposed to be completed by June.

Until then, Upper East Side residents can look forward to the nightly company of MTA workers.