This "Bath Salts" thing; I don't get it.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

I hadn't even heard of them until I read about them a few weeks ago, here on DU, I think. Now we have this horrific story out of Florida. I totally understand wanting to toke-up or have a few or maybe even try some shrooms but this seems like it's on a whole 'nother level.

What is the appeal for a person to take a drug like this?

[JoePhilly]

1. Hal Sparks does a god comedy bit on this ... reading his home town news ...

from his cell phone.

Not safe for work.

[Ruby the Liberal]

5. OMG - that was hilarious!!!

I about broke a rib laughing when he got to "Greyhound bus".

Off to Netflix to look this guy up.

[JoePhilly]

8. He has an album called Chamageddon ... and he is a regular

on the Stephanie Miller Show ... he's part of her Sexy Liberal Comedy Tour ... he was on Queer as Folk, and he's also on a Disney animation show called Lab Rats.

[Ruby the Liberal]

13. Ah! Thats where I heard his name before.

From John Fugelsang

Thanks for the heads up.

[GoneOffShore]

18. He's like a young Robin Williams.

Hilarious!

[Ruby the Liberal]

2. I remember stories of PCP back in the 70s but this bath salt thing tops them all

People arrested for jumping naked through windows after robbing their neighbors - found laying in a pool of blood in the front yard with "loot" strewn everywhere, looking at the police like "what did I do".

Seems there is no upside and all downside to this particular narcotic. Instant insanity.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

9. That's scary.

I'm still mystified that this could ever be done for "recreational" purposes.

[woodsprite]

11. In DE, they just arrested a gas station owner who was selling it over the convenience counter

The station was right next to my son's middle school. Glad they got him. Apparently it's very easy to get. A friend who works in a guidance counseling office at school said that someone mentioned it to her. When she showed disbelief that it was that easy to get, they bet her that they could get some and be back to the office in 30 min. She took him up on the bet, and darned if he didn't come back with some. From then, I think they worked with the police to get this guy.

My friend is an ER nurse. She told me that it is the absolute scourge of the ER. If someone is in and out of their heads, you test for everything else. If nothing shows positive for other drugs and they're still out of their heads, then assume it bath salts and just strap 'em down. She said there is not much you can do and it's undetectable (or at least no test has been created yet that shows a positive).

The problem in DE really came to light when Sgt. Szcerba was killed investigating a break in last year. The guy was on bath salts.

[LynneSin]

23. I thought they banned 'Bath Salts' in Delaware

I watched an episode of 'Intervention' where the kid was hooked on 'Bath Salts'. The kid was just absolutely bonkers with severe schizophrenia.

Clearly our police isn't doing enough to make sure this stuff is out of the stores.

[FSogol]

3. WebMD article on bath salts:

http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/features/bath-salts-drug-dangers

[rustydog]

4. We've had a few users visit our ER lately

This is some scary shit

[notadmblnd]

6. I caught my son doing it a few months ago. Thankfully they outlawed it and he can no longer get it

It is amphetimines or synthetic cocain. That's what I thought it was when it found the vial in his room. I showed him some videos of his peers talking about it on Utube and howdevastating it can be and he promised not to do it again. He is home all the time and his behavior is back to normal (eating like a teenage boy again), so I'm 99% certain he is no longer doing it.

The next thing they need to outlaw is this "spice" or "k2" shit they're all smoking.

[rustydog]

10. Talk about naive, my friend, outlawing bathsalts has NOT kept it from availability

One can buy them in many convenience stores in WA. They aren't supposed to be selling it, but they do.

[notadmblnd]

17. we are not in WA

and the smoke shops have stopped sellig it here in MI. I don't know if there is a loophole in the law and whether or not they will simply just change the formula, but I am fairly certain that he is not currently using it. His appetite is back and he is sleeping again. In fact, he's become down right lazy. When he was doing these" bath salts", he did not eat, lost weight and stayed up for days. He was working 12 hour days and not sleeping, that is why I became suspicious to begin with. I even took him to the Dr and his Dr said he was losing weight because he was working so much, it did not fit my son's MO.

[LynneSin]

21. It varies from state to state with the illegality of it

I had read that after the ban in Delaware, some convenience stores that still had inventory would continue to sell to known customers.

[Comrade Grumpy]

19. The next thing they need to outlaw is prohibition.

Cocaine used to be legal, then they banned it and someone came up with amphetamines. Amphetamines used to be easily obtainable. They clamped down on them, and--voila!--cocaine was back. Now, cocaine and speed are both illegal (although easily available), and the new synthetic stimulants are on the market. Illegalize one, and a chemist shifts a couple of molecules, and there's a new, legal one. Arguably worse, although I have to say that we read these accounts of people going bonkers on bath salts, we should recall the similar scary stories we heard about other drugs.

As for K2 and Spice, those are synthetic cannabinoids. Wanna kill the market for them? Easy, legalize weed.

[Thegonagle]

7. It's a supposed legal loophole. People want to get high without facing prison if caught.

"Bath salts" is what they're sold and distributed as, and they're "not responsible" for off-label usage.

(Even though by making the stuff the way they make it--so that you can get high--they're responsible.)

States are beginning to outlaw the sale and distribution of "bath salts" and other products of certain chemical compositions, it just takes time.

[Warpy]

12. The town's dry except for some really expensive shit that's out of reach

and this stuff is pretty cheap and you are homeless and really need to send your brain on vacation. It's the same reason people drink Lysol spray mixed with water. It's a cheap and available high.

This is another reason the drug war needs to end. Most of the stuff they're all bent out of shape about is relatively easy on body systems (compared to tobacco and alcohol) and less likely to cause psychosis. Basement chemists will continue to pump out new and different chemicals to satisfy an ancient human demand to be able to take some time off from the stresses of life and each chemical is likely to be worse and worse.

The moralists have had their chance and their way doesn't work.

[GObamaGO]

16. Spot on

[Woody Woodpecker]

14. Cheap high

and from what I read about it (I first noticed 'bath salts' a few months ago while doing research on dangerous drugs), it's cheap and available.

The ingredients apparently includes a form of speed.

If you really want to know what's really dangerous, check out krokodil.

[Posteritatis]

15. Boredom, though the whole thing reeks of yet another moral panic. (nt)

[LynneSin]

20. Bath Salts? Simple - it's cheap and in some states, it's legal to buy at your corner market store

For some people it's just about getting high and they'll buy whatever they can get their hands on to get high. When 'Bath Salts' came out this was a perfect fit for the typical loser that buys this kind of stuff. Thing is this - it's a really creepy high to the point that excessive use can cause long term schizophrenia.

For the person looking for a cheap high what better way than to go to your local corner store - mostly the one found in cities and suburbs that aren't owned by the major Mini-Market chains. They tend to sell alot of overprice groceries. 'Bath Salts' was a win for these places because it was absolutely pure profits for the store owners with a guarentee return on business from the customer who would quickly become addicted to this stuff.

In Delaware Bath Salts were banned after a guy, high on 'bath salts' went absolutely bat-shit crazy and stabbed a police officer to death.

BTW these things were never actually used as Bath Salts. It was given that term since any product being sold for 'medical' purposes would have to go thru FDA testing first. So the company that made this stuff (and most of them came from overseas) named them 'Bath Salts' so they could be put on the market right away.

[kestrel91316]

22. Why all the fuss? Clearly "bath salts" are nowhere near as dangerous as cannabis.

[missheidi]

24. Neither do I, but it's been on the ATL news for a while now

on and off. Mostly teenagers who go into stores and buy them. The first two teens on the news talking about it (well, one wasn't even a teen...he was 11/12-ish) looked stoned. Like, someone has to give them the money to get it, right?

[proud2BlibKansan]

25. The appeal is it's legal

At least in many states. It's also inexpensive.