Bath Salts Cause Concern in Some Communities

Officials in 25 states are growing concerned about alarming numbers of adolescents and others ending up in emergency rooms and mental hospitals after intentionally snorting, injecting or smoking "fake cocaine," a powder legally sold as "bath salts," and are proposing bans.

Sold under such names as Ivory Wave, Red Dove, Bliss and Vanilla Sky, law enforcement officials and poison control center staff say the effects of the stimulants the powders often contain (mephedrone and methylenedioxypyrovalerone, also known as MDPV) are a central nervous system stimulant that is not approved for medical purposes in the United States, and provide for users a cocaine-like high.

The chemicals in these bath salts can cause hallucinations, paranoia, rapid and irregular heartbeats 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. A small packet of the chemicals typically costs around $20.

Mississippi lawmakers this week began considering a proposal to ban the sale of the powders, and a similar step is being sought in Kentucky. In Louisiana, the bath salts were outlawed this month by an emergency order after the state's poison center received more than 125 calls in the last three months of 2010 involving exposure to the chemicals. Dr. Mark Ryan, director of Louisiana's poison control center, told The Huffington Post that calls about the chemicals have dropped sharply since Louisiana’s ban.

Two other states have also taken steps. North Dakota's Board of Pharmacy banned MPDV and related chemicals, and legislation has already been put forward in Kentucky to outlaw MPDV. Abroad, the Great Britain banned these so-called bath salts last April when several people died after ingesting it.

The stimulants aren't regulated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, but they are studying it as a “drug of concern.”