Posted on 11/04/2010 11:37:28 AM PDT by deport
Bath salts apparently aren't being used just to make bath time more fun anymore.Authorities are interested in reports that people are buying a version of the products marketed as "concentrated bath salts" not so much for their added relaxation, but instead to get high.
The fine powdered substance is sold in 500-milligram containers and is available locally for $29.99. It is sold behind the counter at some gas stations and head shops around Southeast Texas. It comes in screw-top jars about an inch high and an inch around.
Law enforcement officials and medical experts aren't sure exactly what's in the bath salts and the packages don't list any ingredients.
The ingredients in the product don't show up in drug tests, said Crystal Petry, the community
coordinator for outreach and training in the Southeast Texas Regional Planning Commission's Substance Abuse Division.......
Jason Glenn, an assistant professor at the Center for Addiction Research at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, said bath salts are popular in pro-marijuana circles. Many pro-marijuana websites advertise legal smoking blends of tobacco as well as bath salts, he said.
Some of the products are said to give off a tranquil, calming feeling similar to marijuana, he added.......
According to the United Kingdom's Guardian newspaper, St. George's University in London analyzed a popular bath salt product, Ivory Wave, in 2009. The medical school hospital found it contained two ingredients that might imitate the effects of cocaine - methylene dioxy pyrrolidin ketone, or MDPV, and lidocaine.
MDPV is a powerful stimulant and lidocaine is a numbing agent, according to the newspaper...........
The group found that people commonly ingest the MDPV-containing bath salts orally, rectally, by snorting, smoking or with an IV. The chemical is supposed to have stimulant-type effects and cause increased energy, sociability, mental stimulation or increased concentration and limited, if any, euphoria.
As people come down from their high, they could experience fatigue, nausea, muscle twitches, kidney pain, numbness or problems breathing, the Psychonaut WebMapping Research Group found. The substance also can cause severe anxiety attacks, suicidal thoughts and confusion, according to the group.
end snips
They had an article about this on Daily Mail UK. Apparently it is fairly common in Europe. And people are dying from it.
And, there is a small group of people willing to try anything to get high. Imagine how they discovered the "insert it rectally" part....!
Mexican drug lords aren’t going to be happy.
People die from rectal admission of alcohol too.
“No ingredients” listed.
These people are getting high and they don’t even know the chemical involved. Hell even meth addicts know some of what’s in meth.
Remember the old “Calgon, take me away!” commercial for its version of bath salts? Who’da thought it would ever get this literal?
nothing new, back in the 60’s kids at camp were melting Right Guard and sniffing it
Our civilization just isn't what it used to be.
We could make bath salts illegal and then they'd be delighted.
Oh brother. What will they think of next?
I believe most ketones are carcinogenic.
and lidocaine.
That should have indicated positive for opiates. At any rate it is a controlled substance.
In Utah, we have ‘Spice’ that the kids smoke.
Personally, I don’t care - if they want to get high, they will. They will huff spray paint, glue, paint thinner and lick toads.
The laws are simple. Alcohol is regulated, THC in marijuana is what makes them high, so that is regulated. Opiates are in Hashish and Opium, so that is regulated.
What is in Bath Salts that gets them high? What is in Spice? If it’s harmful, then make it a controlled substance. If it’s not ... then leave it alone.
Stupidity should be painful, kids who huff paint thinner, glue, spray paint end up killing brain cells and tend to wind up with a lower IQ. Stupid is, as stupid does.
Make it illegal, and you will only drive up demand.
Right. I knew guys in the navy that would filter sterno through a sock filled with bread, and drink it!!
Lidocaine can be had sans restriction in sunburn lotion. In a bath salt it would make sense in “normal” usage to subdue itch and pain of irritated skin. The ketone sounds like a scent agent.
Even at the risk of abuse, I don’t really want a society that is denied general access to anything more powerful than baking soda.
Does anyone remember the story about kids in Africa putting feces in a bottle, covering the top with a balloon, letting it sit in the sun for 3-4 hours, and then inhaling the “gaseous” contents of the balloon to get high?
Quick—we need a Bath Salts Czar!!
My favorite is the story of a man admitted to a hospital with gangrene from injecting himself with cocaine. IIRC, as he was being examined, his penis fell off. He subsequently lost one or both hands and feet.
Does something that makes people high, equate to something dangerous?
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