Bath Salts: The Deadly Truth and Consequences

Health officials from across the country are sounding an alarm over potentially dangerous hallucinogens that are being sold as “bath salts”.  In St. Charles, Missouri, and Granite City, Illinois, officials have enacted ordinances banning the drugs.

The Drug Enforcement Administration does not regulate these substances, but they are under federal scrutiny, as the effects of these salts are comparable to methamphetamine abuse, according to poison control centers and other law enforcement agencies.

The reported problems with bath salts have come from at least 25 different states and involve packets of bath salts being sold at rest stops, convenience stores and on the internet that use a number of potent chemicals that may work as hallucinogens and amphetamines.

The bath salts, which sell for about $20, are unregulated and are currently legal in most states. They are sold under names like “Cloud Nine,” “Ivory Wave” and “Vanilla Sky” and are sometimes sold as plant food. Although they are marked “not for human consumption” health officials say there is a growing trend of the bath salts being injected, crushed and snorted like cocaine or put into beverages.

Health officials from across the country are sounding an alarm over potentially dangerous hallucinogens that are being sold as “bath salts”.  In St. Charles, Missouri, and Granite City, Illinois, officials have enacted ordinances banning the drugs.

The Drug Enforcement Administration does not regulate these substances, but they are under federal scrutiny, as the effects of these salts are comparable to methamphetamine abuse, according to poison control centers and other law enforcement agencies.

The reported problems with bath salts have come from at least 25 different states and involve packets of bath salts being sold at rest stops, convenience stores and on the internet that use a number of potent chemicals that may work as hallucinogens and amphetamines.

The bath salts, which sell for about $20, are unregulated and are currently legal in most states. They are sold under names like “Cloud Nine,” “Ivory Wave” and “Vanilla Sky” and are sometimes sold as plant food. Although they are marked “not for human consumption” health officials say there is a growing trend of the bath salts being injected, crushed and snorted like cocaine or put into beverages.

Officials say abusers of the bath salts may be in for a rude surprise. Not only can they kill with just one dose, but some officials said the psychotic side effects of the bath salts incorporate some of the worst side effects of drugs like LSD, Ecstasy, PCP, cocaine and meth.

In one case, a bath salt user planned to surgically remove their own liver with a mechanical pencil. In another incident, a man who was experiencing hallucinations from bath salt side effects barricaded himself in his attic with his rifle in preparation of an assault by monsters, which he vowed to kill before they could get him.  One Louisiana man reportedly tried to slit his throat with a butter knife while high on “Cloud Nine” bath salts. When that failed, he continued to suffer psychotic episodes for three days before he finally shot himself in the head with a rifle while his parents slept.

Currently, the bath salts are being sold under the names Red Dove, Blue Silk, Zoom, Bloom, Cloud Nine, Ocean Snow, Lunar Wave, Vanilla Sky, Ivory Wave, White Lightning, Scarface, Hurricane Charlie and possibly others.

If you or a loved one has been affected by the use of these bath salts in Missouri or Illinois, you need to contact an attorney immediately.  It is possible that you have a product liability cause of action against the manufacturer or seller of these drugs.

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