Abuse of bath salts is becoming a dangerous new drug trend

By Staff Writer

An alarming new trend is putting many teens in danger. In states across the U.S., people are snorting, smoking and injecting bath salts in order to get high. However, the chemicals in these products can lead to hallucinations, paranoia, rapid heart rates and suicidal thoughts, according to the Chicago Sun Times.

Neil Brown, a man from Mississippi, sliced his face and stomach repeatedly with a knife after getting high on bath salts. He survived, but told the news source that the psychological effects still linger. Officials in the Magnolia State and Kentucky are currently considering a ban on these powders.

Bath salts are already illegal in Louisiana, after the state's poison center received more than 125 calls in a three-month period regarding hazardous exposure to the substance.

The stimulants in these powders are usually mephedrone or methylenedioxypyrovalerone, which is also known as MDPV, according to the news source.

Almost 8,000 drug-related emergency department visits in 2004 in the U.S. involved either methylphenidates or amphetamines, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Services Administration’s Drug Abuse Warning Network.