Bath Salts what are they and why they are so dangerous

Excited delirium, delusion, extreme paranoia with a dash of suicidal thoughts packaged as a white powder in small pretty foil bags, labeled  “Bath Salts” now available at your local corner store. Confused ?

Despite being marketed as “bath salts” or “plant food” and labeled “not for human consumption”, people utilize these substances for their amphetamine or cocaine like effects.

Bath salts have been linked to an alarming surge in visits to emergency departments and poison control centers across the country.

Common reactions reported for people who have needed medical attention after using bath salts include cardiac symptoms (such as racing heart, high blood pressure, and chest pains) and psychiatric symptoms including paranoia, hallucinations, and panic attacks.

It is concearning that the number of calls to poison centers concerning “bath salts” rose 6,138 in 2011 from 304 in 2010

 

Alluring designed Bath Salts

What Are Bath Salts

The synthetic powder is sold legally online and in drug paraphernalia stores under a variety of names, such as “Ivory Wave,” “Purple Wave,” “Red Dove,” “Blue Silk,” “Zoom,” “Bloom,” “Cloud Nine,” “Ocean Snow,” “Lunar Wave,” “Vanilla Sky,” “White Lightning,” “Scarface,” and “Hurricane Charlie.” Because these products are relatively new to the drug abuse scene, our knowledge about their precise chemical composition and short- and long-term effects is limited

the drugs referred to as “bath salts,” is potentially more dangerous than cocaine when tested in rodents.

To circumnavigate possible controls, suppliers of cathinone derivatives often market them under various brand names

(e.g. Explosion, Blow, Recharge, etc.) as ‘plant food’, ‘bath salts’, or ‘research chemicals’, often with a printed warning that they are ‘not for human consumption’

How Are Bath Salts Used?

Most Bath Salts are sold as a white powder, which can be used in many ways.

Bath salts are typically taken orally, inhaled, or injected, with the worst outcomes being associated with snorting or needle injection.

This video is made by the U.S Navy and has really struck a chord with its audience when they launched the video and the related campaign

Bath salts are a non-regulated designer drug comprised of a synthetic cathinone, or amphetamine, that can have dangerous and debilitating effects on those who use them. The adverse health effects from bath salt use can range from agitation, lack of appetite, kidney failure, muscle spasms, severe paranoid delusions and psychosis. Several cases of long-term patient hospitalization and suicide have been reported.

 Information on the substance Mephedrone

•   Mephedrone and related drugs are currently legal and have no licensed medicinal use.

•   Mephedrone is usually available as capsules or powder.

•   It costs around £3 for a dose and produces effects that users report are similar, but not identical to, ecstasy/MDMA. Bulk purchases up to 1kg are significantly discounted by retailers.

•   The effects last for around 2 to 3 hours when taken orally. After effects such as insomnia may last for several hours longer.

• Negative effects appear to be dose related and are similar to ecstasy/MDMA. They include: a desire to redose, uncomfortable changes in body temperature (sweating and chills), heart palpitations, impaired short term memory, insomnia, tightened jaw muscles, grinding teeth, and light headedness.

• There has been little scientific investigation of mephedrone. Two A&E case reports from London confirmed the presence of mephedrone. In one, the patient presented with heart palpitations and blurred vision; body temperature was slightly below normal. The patient recovered approximately six hours after oral treatment with the benzodiazepine lorazepam. In the second case, mephedrone had been taken with other substances and the presentation was primarily due to ingestion of GHB.

• No information is available on the interaction of mephedrone with other drugs.

Methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV)

The abuse of psychoactive ‘bath salts’ containing cathinones such as 3,4-methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV) is a growing public health concern, yet little is known about their pharmacology.

Additionally, MDPV  is at least 10 times more potent than cocaine at producing locomotor activation, tachycardia, and hypertension. The robust stimulation of dopamine transmission by MDPV predicts serious potential for abuse and may provide a mechanism to explain the adverse effects observed in humans taking high doses of ‘bath salts’ preparations.

 Street Price

Bath salts are still easily available online, though, and come in brand names such as “Purple Wave,” “Zoom” or “Cloud Nine.” A 50-milligram packet sells for $25 to $50.

Mephedrone and related compounds are primarily sold on websites or in ‘head shops’. The 2010 EMCDDA snapshot showed prices ranging between EUR 10 and 15 for one gram, with discounts offered for bigger quantities. In the 2011 EMCDDA snapshot prices were ranging between EUR 18 and 25 for one gram.

The Effects

The most dangerous synthetic drugs are stimulants that affect levels of both dopamine and serotonin, brain chemicals that affect mood and perception. Users, who typically smoke or snort the powder-based drugs, may experience a surge in energy, fever and delusions of invincibility.

Dr. Sullivan Smith of Cookeville Regional Medical Center in Tennessee,

“We’re seeing extreme agitation, hallucinations that are very vivid, paranoia and some really violent behavior, so it’s a real crisis for us,” Dr Smith said. “We sedate the living daylights out of them. And we’re talking doses on the order of 10 or 20 times what you would give for a painful procedure.”

Doctors and law Enforcement Officers report users often end up naked because bath salts raise their body temperature so much that they strip off their clothing.

In the short-term, bath salts can raise heart rate and blood pressure, and in bad cases, cause extreme paranoia and suicidal thoughts. The long range effects are unknown, though researchers suspect they’re addictive.

The Reality

Story’s from people effected by the Drug:

This Valley neighbor learned his lesson the hard way with bath salts.

Recovering Bath Salt Addicts’ Experience of Addiction and Recovery

It’s a drug with a harmless-sounding name, but a Nova Scotia man knows the horrors of bath salts first-hand.

‘Bath salts’ addict warns of street drug’s dangers

Excited delirium,delusion,extreme paranoia with a dash of suicidal thoughts packaged as white powder labeled“Bath Salts”crimecasefiles.com/blog/2013/02/b…

— Crime Case Files(@CrimeCaseFiles) February 1, 2013