All You Need To Know About Bath Salt Abuse

All You Need To Know About Bath Salt Abuse

Bath Salts is the informal “street name” for a family of designer drugs often containing substituted cathinones, Which have effects similar to amphetamine and cocaine. Having no known legitimate use, these designer drugs are falsely labeled as ‘bath salts’, ‘plant food’, ‘insect repellent’ and other innocuous’ substances and marked “Not For Human Consumption,” in order to conceal them from law enforcement.

The Facts

• The price of Bath Salts ranges from $25 to $50 -milligram packet
• Synthetic cathinones act on the user’s norepinephrine-dopamine re-update inhibitor and are central nervous system stimulant
• Because Bath Salts create an elevated level of agitation and aggression, people who use them also become a safety risk to others.
•  The effects from Bath Salts can last from 3-4 hours depending on how much the user takes.
• These products are usually encountered as highly pure white or brown powders.
• Cathinones derivatives are claimed to have effects similar to those of cocaine, amphetamine or MDMA (ecstasy), but little is known of their detailed pharmacology.

Health Risks

• Cerebral vascular accidents (CVA) or strokes
• Coma/death
• Swelling of the brain
• Decrease in appetite
• Elevated blood pressures
• Myocardinal infractions (heart attack)

The Mental Health Risks of Using Bath Salts Include

• Agitation
• Auditory and visual hallucinations
• Extreme paranoid thoughts
• Anxiety
• Prolonged and intense panic attacks and anxiety
• Perception of a diminished requirement for food and sleep
• Increase wakefulness
• They also increase body temperature and can cause muscle breakdown leading to kidney damage.

Popular Names For “Bath Salts”

Charge+, Blue Silk, Bliss, Hurricane Charlie, Snow Leopard, Star Dust, White Down, White Lightening, White Knight, Ivory Snow, Blizzard, Ivory Wave, Purple Wave, Red Wave, White Rush, Pure Ivory, Vanilla Sky and Ocean Burst

Bath Salts Come In Different Forms

• Powder
• Liquid Crystal
• Capsule
• Tablet

Stats and Stories

• In September of 2010, the San Luis Obispo, CA Sheriff’s Department noted that two 15-year old boys became very ill after taking bath salt thinking that it was MDMA (ecstasy)
• Currently, only Kentucky and North Dakata have filed legislation to ban bath salts.
•  Poison Control Centers received 2,237 bath salts related calls from 47 states as well as the District of Columbia.
• Amount of Bath Salt related calls to Poison Control Centres in the US. is 2009 (0 calls), 2010 (302 calls) and 2011 (2,237 Calls).
• The death of a 21-year-old Kansas man is speculated to be the result of taking bath salts. In 2010 the man jumped in front of a vehicle on 1-35 close to Salina killing himself.
• In Louisiana, 84 people are reported to have been hospitalized due to taking bath salts and experiencing paranola, fighting, hallucinations, suicidal thoughts and physical effects such as hypertension and rapid heartbeat.
• The first reports of “Bath Salts” seizure was from Germany in 2007. The United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and Israel have banned the chemicals.

Amount of Bath Salt related calls to Poison Control Centres in the US.

• 2009 (0 calls),
• 2010 (302 calls)
• 2011 (2,237 Calls)

The contents of individual packets of so-called “bath salts” drugs vary, but have generally been found to include at least one of six chemicals

1. Methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MPDPV)
2. Methylmethcathinone (Mephedrone, 4-MMC)
3. Methylenedioxymethcathinone (Methylone, MDMC)
4. Flouromethcathinone (Flephedrone 4-FMC)
5. Fluoromethcathinone (3-FMC)
6. Methoxymethcathinone (Methedrone, bk-PMMA, PMM)