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NEW YORK STATE -- New York State's health commissioner has announced a ban on the sale of synthetic marijuana products in New York, effectively immediately.

The ban comes a week after the state department of health sent alerts to local health departments and health care providers on the danger of those products.

The substances consist of plant material coated by chemicals that mimic the active ingredient in marijuana.

Doctors at the Upstate Poison Control Center are calling the ban a major step. They say they've treated users for seizures, heart attacks and now possibly even a case of kidney failure.

"The drugs in here work in the same areas of the brain that marijuana would bind to in the brain, however, these drugs, the synthetic marijuana, do it with a lot more potency, so they are much more powerful in what they do. And we still don't 100 percent understand with this increased potency why these symptoms are happening, but we do know that this increased potency is what's causing all these horrible symptoms people are having," said Dr. Ross Sullivan, Emergency Medicine Physician at Upstate Poison Control Center.

The ban will take synthetic marijuana off store shelves in New York, but people will still be able to buy it on the internet, so doctors are urging parents in particular to be hyper vigilant about what their children are purchasing.