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Dangerous 'bath salts' still legal in many states

The substances, which are similar to synthetic marijuana, are easy to find and are said to provide a cocaine-like high.

By John PlattMon, Jul 18 2011 at 11:23 AM EST
 15

Bath Salts Photo: Nomadic Lass/Flickr
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal last week signed a law to ban "synthetic marijuana" and new recreational drugs known as "bath salts," which are still legal in almost half of the United States, according to a report from WDSU. Ohio Gov. John Kasich also banned bath salts and other new recreational drugs on Friday.
 
"Bath salts," which get their name from their visual similarity to the soothing chemicals you put in your bath, contain man-made substances known as methylmethcathinone (mephedrone) and methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV). According to the New York Times, "Both drugs are related to khat, an organic stimulant found in Arab and East African countries that is illegal in the United States. They are similar to so-called synthetic marijuana, which has also caused a surge in medical emergencies and been banned in a number of states."
 
Bath salts — which can be purchased online or at convenience stores or head shops for $25 to $50 for a 50-milligram packet — can be snorted, injected or smoked. According to various reports, the drug causes a cocaine-like high.
 
That high is also reportedly quite dangerous. The Times interviewed several doctors who reported people on bath salts arriving in hospitals "so agitated, violent and psychotic that a small army of medical workers was needed to hold them down." Even high amounts of sedatives or Tasers did little to calm some of these people down. Others have engaged in activities similar to people on PCP, such as running into traffic or scratching their skin off.
 
According to WDSU, "At least 12 deaths nationwide have been directly linked to bath salt drug substances to date, and there have already been 4,042 reports of these drugs being ingested by people in the U.S. this year."
 
Despite the risk, bath salt use is on the rise. The Times cites statistics from the American Association of Poison Control Centers, which found that local poison control centers received 3,470 calls about bath salts during the first six months of 2011, up from 303 during all 12 months of 2010.
 
The Times reports that the Drug Enforcement Agency is looking into adding mephedrone and MDPV controlled Schedule 1 substances, which would place the in the same class as PCP, heroin, ecstasy, marijuana and khat. Methamphetamines are a Schedule 2 drug.
 
Local DEA offices, like the one in New York state, where bath salts have been criminalized, are already targeting bath salts. The agency made its first arrest last month. "We were sending out a message that if you're going to sell these bath salts, it's a violation and we will be looking at you," special agent John P. Gilbride told the Times.
 
Ohio's new law also banned a drug called K2, usually legally sold as incense, apparently becoming the first state to ban this up-and-coming drug, which just a week ago one site was pitching as "50-state legal."
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anonymous
That One Guy 03/27/2012 09:52 AM

Yet just think if the goverment would make weed Legal then they would not have deaths or people doing dumb things such as bath salt and then the would make a **** ton of money of the tan of the weed that they could pay back some of the dets we have

anonymous
kB 03/14/2012 20:29 PM

I hate reading articles like this. K2 and marijuana is apples and oranges. I've smoked both, and between the two, there is no way I'll ever try K2 again. I had an anxiety attack so severe I thought I was losing my mind. Weed's never done that to me. I have friends that can get a weed high from K2, but it just doesn't do it for me.

anonymous
onlySmokesandChainJoints 04/02/2012 10:11 AM

the legal stuff when legal was not ok...it scared me....I never try anything but with being faced to try to replace illegal with something to relax and not loose my job I gave it a chance. Two "drags"... I gave up my keys to my very straight friend and said "get me home I don't feel safe". I have NEVER done that before, not on anything and I have slipped into a drug world for 2 years many years ago now and I tried A LOT then...drugs that make you very paranoid. I never felt like I did with.... More

anonymous
That one guy 03/27/2012 09:49 AM

But yet when they post stuff like this they have no right to say what they say ya the study it but they have never smoked it to see what it really dose weed is not a drug its a plant and the plant has helped many people with pain and many other things Weed is not bad many people say it is but its not

anonymous
kendra 10/29/2011 22:21 PM

i love it it helped me lots a ways

anonymous
This Author is a few marbles shy of a full set 10/07/2011 08:17 AM

Bath salts are similar to synthetic marijuana? Cocaine is similar to pot? Since when?

Also bath salts got their name because marketers wanted to hide their real use under an innocuous product. You know how many schedule 1 drugs look like "bath salts" ... why didn't they call heroin bath salts, or cocaine, or crank, etc.

Yes Ohio is the first state to have banned K2, lol. Holy mackeral this person has no idea what they're talking about. Talk about horribad reporting. .... More

anonymous
Nedmorlef 09/28/2011 12:09 PM

Under the Constitution the Congress wasn't empowered to control wild plants growing in the backyards of the United States.

Chemicals they can control under the Commerce Laws. The same laws that, they illegally use to powergrab control of wild plants.

This illegal war against the ppl of the U.S. is very similar to the Civil War of the past where the money tried to control the labor. It's still the rich corporations trying to oppress the working class in a war that, confusingly for.... More

anonymous
Julie 09/23/2011 15:33 PM

Legislators would be better off legalizing marijuana. If marijuana were made legal, there would not be this void that needed filled and which is being filled with unregulated chemicals which really have no research done on them. This hunt that lawmakers and law enforcement are on is one which will never come to an end. They can ban k2 incense blends all they want, but places like .... More

anonymous
Thor 08/14/2011 20:31 PM

They are not even close to synthetic cannabinoids. The fact that you claim this makes you unqualified to report on this article. Even Wikipedia's pages make this very simple distinction. Did you just decide to write up an article and do no reliable research first?

So far as I can tell, there is no reason a typical antipsychotic--acting primarily on the dopamine receptors in the brain--should not help quell this type of high. Also, it is well known that GABAnergic drugs do a great.... More

Tarrant
Tarrant 08/15/2011 10:08 AM

The article reads to me that they are similar in that people are arriving at the Emergency Room in similar numbers as they are/were after synthetic cannabinoids became more known and available.

anonymous
Guedde 10/07/2011 08:23 AM

No, this person just has no idea what they're talking about, the original poster was correct. Look at the very last paragraph, it talks about how Ohio recently criminalized K2, the first state ever to do this (totally untrue), and then backs it up by stating that why just last week one website was touting that their K2 was legal in all 50 states and links to a "bath salts" vendor. This person doesn't know the difference between synthetic cannabis (e.g., marketed as K2) and synthetic.... More

anonymous
zdfdf 08/14/2011 14:59 PM

kids wouldn't want 'synthetic marijuana' if it wasn't illegal to grow and harvest a stupid plant (!) these illegitimate drugs are a product of the governments failure to accept that citizens use drugs and aren't going to stop because you say it's 'bad'.

anonymous
Enter your name 08/10/2011 17:34 PM

People will ALWAYS find a way to get high.Let people do what they want, let them smoke, inject, snort, ingest whatever they want. Eventually the deaths won't occur because people won't be forced to try new way's to get high.

anonymous
easy rider 08/11/2011 04:58 AM

It's called natural selection, and let it happen. One good way to wipe out stupid people!

anonymous
Anonymous 03/15/2012 01:02 AM

Yes I do believe

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