Officials Fear Bath Salts Are Growing Drug Problem

Jesus Christ.  What will people think of next?

Of course, I’ve never understood taking drugs.  Not even in High School or College.  This was probably ingrained in me due to my Mother’s inordinate fear that if her children did drugs, they would run off and join the Manson Family, kill someone, get in the press and embarrass her in front of her friends.

Therefore, she always told us if we took drugs, we would lose our minds, pull out our eyeballs and eat them like she read about someone doing in Reader’s Digest.  That did the trick for me!

Like a good Southerner, I always preferred cocktails or wine  and I don’t even do that anymore…well, at least not since January 1st.

FULTON, Miss. — When Neil Brown got high on dangerous chemicals sold as bath salts, he took his skinning knife and slit his face and stomach repeatedly. Brown survived, but authorities say others haven’t been so lucky after snorting, injecting or smoking powders with such innocuous-sounding names as Ivory Wave, Red Dove and Vanilla Sky.

Some say the effects of the powders are as powerful as abusing methamphetamine. Increasingly, law enforcement agents and poison control centers say the advertised bath salts with complex chemical names are an emerging menace in several U.S. states where authorities talk of banning their sale.

From the Deep South to California, emergency calls are being reported over-exposure to the stimulants the powders often contain: mephedrone and methylenedioxypyrovalerone, also known as MDPV.

Sold under such names as Ivory Wave, Bliss, White Lightning and Hurricane Charlie, the chemicals can cause hallucinations, paranoia, rapid heart rates and suicidal thoughts, authorities say. The chemicals are in products sold legally at convenience stores and on the Internet as bath salts and even plant foods. However, they aren’t necessarily being used for the purposes on the label.

via Officials Fear Bath Salts Are Growing Drug Problem.