Drug Education Articles
DRUG EDUCATION ARTICLES
Dangerous Drugs Marketed as Bath Salts
Because of an "imminent threat to public safety," the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) made it illegal to possess or sell three of the chemicals commonly used to make drugs labeled "bath-salts" -- the synthetic stimulants mephedrone, MDPV, and methylone. Possession or sale of these synthetic stimulants could result in federal drug charges.
"Ivory Wave," "Ivory Dove", "Purple Wave", "Vanilla Sky", "Xtacy Extra", "Mind Charge", "Quick Silver", "Ocean Snow", "Vanilla Sky", "Recharge", "Lunar Wave"," Sextacy", "Ocean Burst" and "Bliss" -- all are names for various "bath-salts,".
The bath-salts with the types of synthetic compounds that are banned can actually be dangerous chemical concoctions that are being created to be used as drugs, although they are being sold and marketed under the pretense of external use. This marketing scheme has been discovered to be a ploy to get around state and federal laws banning these substances for internal human use. One way to do this is to refer to these substances as bath-salts or plant food or plant feeders while, in reality, these drugs are being created and used as drugs. The use of these substances as drugs has led to drug induced psychosis and deaths in those who have used them.
The effects of these chemicals include agitation, paranoia, hallucinations, chest pain, high blood pressure, increased pulse, increased body temperature and suicidal tendencies. Poison-control centers tallied more than 6,100 bath-salt emergencies in 2011, up from just 303 in 2010.
In one example of suspected bath-salt drug usage, Rudy Eugene, 31, stripped naked and began beating a man and started eating the face of Ronald Poppo, 65. Eugene was shot and killed by police when he refused to stop biting Poppo's face. Poppo was in critical condition at a hospital after the attack with an estimated 80% of his face bitten off and will most likely be blind from the damage to his eyes. Rudy's remains were tested for drugs but no conclusion could be made as to whether or not he took bath salts as these new chemicals could not be detected.
In another example of bath salt usage, Dickie Sanders, a 21 year old BMX rider, experienced five days of strange behavior that began shortly after he snorted bath salts that he bought from a friend. Instead of the brief high he was seeking, he experienced days of insomnia, along with waves of terror and frightening delusions, including an incident where he "saw" 25 police cars outside his parents' kitchen window and then slit his own throat with a butcher knife that landed him in the Emergency Room. That night after his father stayed with him until he went to sleep, Dickie woke up and made his way downstairs to his bedroom and killed himself.
Bath-salts have also been blamed in many other psychotic episodes, overdoses, suicides and deaths. Similar cases nationwide finally convinced lawmakers to take action by signing the Synthetic Drug Abuse Prevention Act into law. Violators of the federal law can face up to 20 years in prison for the manufacture or sale of these banned substances and up to 30 years for a second offense. States are being asked to coordinate the regulation and enforcement of the law. Since the law has only recently taken effect, enforcement of the law may not have caught up to many of the smoke shops and other retailers that may still be carrying products containing these banned substances.
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