By: Don Penven
Back in September, 2011 the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) took the unusual step of instituting an emergency scheduling authority to control what is now noted as a national pandemic. It is anticipated that this emergency order will be in effect for about a year or until new Federal regulations are in place. This emergency schedule covers three drugs:
- Mephedrone
- MDPV
- Methylone
These products are openly marketed in many states that have not already banned them. More than half of our 50 states now have laws in place prohibiting distribution and possession of these drugs, which no doubt drive their sale and use “underground.”
The street name given to this collection of synthetic stimulants is “bath salts,” “plant food” or “stain remover.” The drugs are often marketed as "Ivory Wave," "Purple Wave," Vanilla Sky," and "Bliss."
Poison control centers in the U.S. are reporting an alarming increase in calls about these stimulants—a good sign of the popularity they enjoy and the ignorance of the population of the dangers involved with their use. The drugs may be found in powder or tablet form and may be ingested, snorted or injected.
Zane Horowitz, MD, an emergency room physician and medical director of the Oregon Poison Center, noted that health care providers have no way to identify these drugs through common testing procedures. Physicians must rely on the victim telling them just what they had taken.
"You can find them in mini-marts and smoke shops sold as Ivory Wave, Bolivian Bath, and other names," Horowitz says. "The people who make these things have skirted the laws that make these types of things illegal. While several states have banned the sale of bath salts, ultimately it will have to be a federal law that labels these as a schedule 1 drug, which means it has no medicinal value but a high potential for abuse, and declare them illegal," Horowitz said.
Common symptoms experienced by users include: agitation, paranoia, hallucinations, chest pain and suicide ideation. The National Institutes of Health (NIH )also reports the emergence of this new group of substances of abuse in the USA, known as bath salts. . . State and federal authorities used timely information from poison centers on the bath salt outbreak during investigations to help track the extent of use and the effects occurring from these new drugs. Close collaboration between state authorities and poison centers enhanced a rapid response, including legislation.
The NIH website reports the following, “On February 1, 2011, in response to multiple news reports, the Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH) contacted the Children's Hospital of Michigan Poison Control Center (PCC) regarding any reports of illness in the state caused by the use of recreational designer drugs sold as "bath salts."“Unlike traditional cosmetic bath salts, which are packaged and sold for adding to bath water for soaking and cleaning, the drugs sold as "bath salts" have no legitimate use for bathing and are intended for substance abuse. These products can contain stimulant compounds such as 3,4-methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV) or 4-methylmethcathinone (mephedrone). The PCC told MDCH that, earlier in the day, the PCC had learned that numerous persons had visited the local emergency department (ED) in Marquette County with cardiovascular and neurologic signs of acute intoxication.
“This report summarizes the subsequent investigation, which identified 35 persons who had ingested, inhaled, or injected "bath salts" and visited a Michigan ED during November 13, 2010-March 31, 2011. Among the 35 patients, the most common signs and symptoms of toxicity were agitation (23 patients [66%]), tachycardia (22 [63%]), and delusions/hallucinations (14 [40%]). Seventeen patients were hospitalized, and one was dead upon arrival at the ED. The coordinated efforts of public health agencies, health-care providers, poison control centers, and law enforcement agencies enabled rapid identification of this emerging health problem. Mitigation of the problem required the execution of an emergency public health order to remove the toxic "bath salts" from the marketplace. Lessons from the Michigan experience could have relevance to other areas of the United States experiencing similar problems.”
This new menace to our population uses some of the following packaging:
Some of the bath salts merchants are claiming unfair competition. This was found on a popular Internet distribution outlet: A HUGE part in the effort to ban bath salts is Drug Cartels. You think they are just gonna let people sell a product legally online, which is BETTER than theirs, and cheaper, all while not having to do any smuggling/money laundering/cop evading? No, they would have every Bath Salt vendor’s arms and legs broken if they could. But they can’t, so who knows what they are going to do to get this stuff banned.
Law enforcement has encountered considerable difficulty in dealing with these designer drugs.
PORTLAND, Maine -- Law enforcement officials met on Thursday to address the growing epidemic of bath salts - a synthetic drug that is surpassing other well-known street drugs.
"Although largely unknown a year ago, bath salts have quickly become one of the top health and public safety issues in Maine," said Rep. Mike Michaud.
Less than a month ago, the Maine Legislature approved a bill to make possession and trafficking on the drug a felony.
The city of Bangor has been especially hard hit by the epidemic, and the city's police chief is meeting with the drug czar to come up with solutions to stop the spread of the dangerous drug.
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Georgia: "We need to address it very quickly," said Officer Michael Gardner, with the Marietta Police Department near Atlanta. "I've seen people extremely geeked out on meth ... but I've never seen the effects last this long."
The hallucination is much stronger than LSD or Ecstasy, said Gardner, who first witnessed a patient hospitalized from the drug in November. The patient hallucinated for three days and was extremely paranoid, even asking the security guards watching him if they had stolen his beer, Gardner said.
BANGOR, Maine — The Bangor Police Department and The Acadia Hospital will host a daylong conference Wednesday about the synthetic drug bath salts, a dangerous - and often psychosis-inducing - street drugthat police and medical staff in the region are dealing with daily.
Bath salts first emerged in Maine earlier this year on the streets of Bangor, where it is also called "monkey dust," but its use quickly spread throughout the state, Dr. Anthony T. Ng, medical director of psychiatric emergency services at Acadia, and Bangor Police Chief Ron Gastia said in a letter to participants.
"Maine is facing a mounting crisis with the introduction of so-called bath salts earlier this year," the letter states. "Nowhere has that crisis been more prominent than in the Bangor/Penobscot region."
People need to know the truth about the drug, which was banned in July, Ng has said.
Horry County police to confiscate bath salts, synthetic marijuana following state ban
By Janelle Frost - [email protected]
Horry County police will begin confiscating "bath salts" and synthetic marijuana from local businesses now that the substances are illegal in the state, according to authorities.The S.C. Board of Health and Environmental Control voted Monday to ban the chemicals known as bath salts and five chemicals used to make synthetic marijuana following federal bans on the substances.
Now anyone who possess, manufacture or distribute the substances, known as Schedule I drugs, could be charged with a felony on first offense and face up to five years in prison and/or a fine of up to $5,000, according to state Department of Health and Environmental Control officials.
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As a result of the state ban, which went into effect immediately, Horry County businesses that carry the products will have the opportunity to voluntarily surrender them to Horry County police to be destroyed, said Sgt. Robert Kegler, spokesman with the Horry County Police Department.
BENNETTSVILLE, SC --
Law enforcement officers from across the Pee Dee joined with others from across the state as well as mental health professionals Wednesday for a training session on the dangers of bath salts and synthetic marijuana, commonly known as K2.
The seminar was put on by Cheraw Police Chief Jay Brooks, who said he’s become increasingly familiar with the dangers of the synthetic amphetamines and has seen them taking a toll on his community.
“My jurisdiction has had a good bit of contact with it. Some of them (others) have had very little, if none,” Brooks said. “We know what’s coming and we’re trying to stay ahead of the curve and educate people so that the officers don’t get hurt and people who we’re coming in contact with who may be taking this are safe and get the help that they need.”
Brooks showed the officers various slides identifying the physical and mental symptoms that often accompany bath salts usage and even played a somewhat disturbing inmate cell video of someone under the influence.
Officers came from as near as Dillon County and as far as Lexington County to participate in the training program, which also gave them ways to help distinguish bath salts usage from that of other drugs and gave them information on how to best deal with people under the influence of the synthetic amphetamines.
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