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by Craig Guillot Jun 14 2011

At Crossroads Corner store in Salem, Missouri, owner John Watson often identifies those looking to get high from so-called “bath salts.” They’re jittery, nervous, and usually ask if the salts he carries are “the stuff.”

That “stuff” is receiving attention from both medical professionals who are seeing increased health problems caused by snorting or smoking the compound and from legislators who are working to get it banned from the marketplace.

Watson doesn’t deal in the products, and he doesn’t like the fact that shady companies are making potent legal drugs and marketing them as “bath salts.” According to the American Association of Poison Control Centers, people are snorting, eating, and injecting these products to achieve some of the same effects as meth or cocaine.

In the past year, police nationwide attribute a growing number of violent incidents to bath salts. There was the murder-suicide in Seattle, a high-speed chase in North Carolina, and the man dressed in women’s lingerie who killed a goat in West Virginia. Lawmakers are struggling to keep pace. Ten states this year passed legislation banning the drug, and 24 others—including New York earlier this month—used executive orders to stop sales. Two Pennsylvania congressmen are seeking federal legislation to do the same.

A bill banning synthetic cocaine, marketed as bath salts and synthetic marijuana passed the state house Monday and is one step closer to becoming law.

“As recently as three weeks ago, I heard complaints at the local hospital where patients were overdosing on these substances,” said state Rep. Mario Scavello, R-176. “People are becoming addicted to these and walking into emergency rooms for treatment when they abuse them.”

The effect of synthetic cocaine and marijuana resembles drugs listed as controlled substances. The chemical compounds in these “bath salts” are being banned by the legislation. These “bath salts” have nothing to do with legitimate bath products.

The bill will go to the governor soon, and Scavello urges merchants to remove these products from their shelves now.

Rep. Rosemary Brown, R-189, said passing the legislation will also prevent a possible increase in crime that often accompanies drug usage.

Senate Bill 1006 amends the Controlled Substance, Drug and Cosmetic Act to expand the list of banned substances to include Salvia Divinorm, Salvinorin A, Divinorin A, synthetic marijuana and synthetic cocaine/heroin as Schedule 1 controlled substances.

from pocono record

HARRISBURG – The state House of Representatives voted unanimously Monday to ban the synthetically produced drugs known as bath salts.

The House bill also would add the salvia divinorum plant, the chemicals salvinorin A and divinorin A, synthetic marijuana, and synthetic cocaine or heroin to the list of Schedule I controlled substances. The House amended the bill to prohibit all chemical substances analogous to bath salts. The bill now goes to the Senate.

Drugs packaged as bath salts or incense sell for as little as $10 and can cause extreme paranoia and hallucinations.

New Jersey has already banned bath salts, as have Florida and Louisiana. In Pennsylvania, Schuylkill and Lackawanna Counties have taken steps to ban the drugs, as has the city of Lock Haven. – AP

Original Article