As your Sheriff, a parent and a grandparent I am concerned about our children exploring one of the latest drug trends commonly recognized as ‘Bath Salts’.
These are not the type of Bath Salts that a person might put into bath water for a relaxing soak. These bath salts can be lethal to the consumer and are generally sold in head shops, tobacco stores, paraphernalia stores, mini-marts and online. There is no age limit and no identification required to make a purchase.
Manufacturers and illegal street chemists label these Bath Salts with a warning that reads, “not for human consumption” or “not for public consumption”. This means that the product via a legal loophole effectively bypasses the FDA and does not get the attention of the DEA as Bath Salts are not considered “drugs” by definition.
These chemical cocktails are often packaged in an appealing way and marketed under many inviting names such as: White Cloud, Red Dove, Vanilla Sky, Blue Magic, Ivory Wave, Bolivian Bath, White Lightning, Hurricane Charlie and others.
The chemical (Methylenedioxypyrovalerone or MDVP), used to manufacture these extremely dangerous substances have no legitimate use other that to provide a high for the user.
Louisiana was the first state to ban the sale of Bath Salts and several states have followed us or are in the process of banning it. Ultimately it will have to be a federal law that labels Bath Salts as a schedule I drug and declares them illegal nationwide. Schedule I drugs have no medicinal value but a high potential for abuse.
Just a few short months ago you read in the local newspapers that my Drug Task Force made a sweep of all retail locations that we knew were selling Bath Salts and had them clear the product from their shelves following Governor Jindal’s statewide emergency ban. Unfortunately, users can still find a way around the ban by purchasing Bath Salts online.
Although Bath Salts are typically snorted, Dr. Horowitz from New York reported that the clinical arrangement of Bath Salts is similar to mephedrone (a chemical found in other designer drugs). Users have been known to shoot it and mix it with food and drink as well.
We don’t know if Bath Salts are addictive as there has not been enough long-term experience with it. We do know that acute toxicity is the main problem. Drug makers will continue creating new combinations at home and in illegal labs making it almost impossible to keep up. Drugs like Bath Salts fly below the radar unlike other illegal drugs that have a name.
Things to be looking for if you suspect someone you know is using Bath Salts are complaints of headache, chest pains, hypertension, paranoia, agitation, delusions, hallucinations, and talk of suicide. Bath Salts cause high blood pressure and increased pulse but there is so much more to it that is different and cause other extreme effects.
There is currently no test to pick up the presence of Bath Salts. The only way we know if someone has taken them is if they tell you they have.
The use of Bath Salts (or MDVP) has resulted in some highly publicized suicides.
In an interview last December with KATU in the Northwest, St. Tammany Physician, Dr. Richard Sanders reported that his son told him that he had snorted a gram of “Cloud Nine“ Bath Salts on November 9, 2010.
Dr. Sanders learned through conversation with his son that he had purchased the product at a convenience store he thought that it had to be safe.
Sanders who was described his son as a healthy, happy teen who loved his family soon became paranoid and ridden with anxiety shortly after taking the “Cloud Nine”, he started to hallucinate and thought police had surrounded his parents’ home to hurt him.
When Sanders explained to his son that there was no presence of law enforcement outside the home, his son refused to believe him.
During his interview with KATU, Dr. Sanders said, "He reached and grabbed in front of a butcher block. He said, 'I'm going to kill myself,' then and literally cut his neck from ear to ear with a razor-sharp butcher knife."
Doctors saved Sander’s son, but within hours after his release from the hospital his father found him dead with a gunshot wound to the head.
As of January 7, 2011 there were 165 people who had reported being sick from using “Bath Salts” in Louisiana alone.
In an interview with WDSU, Governor Bobby Jindal said he wants people to keep Bath Salts (and plant food) out of your nose, lungs, and your veins. (The 165 calls in Louisiana represents 57 percent of calls reported nationwide).
Jindal said he has asked the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to investigate the disproportionate number of cases in Louisiana and whether the state might be a manufacturing location for the drugs.
Governor Jindal’s emergency ban now makes it illegal to make, sell or possess Bath Salts in the State of Louisiana.
My hat is off to my Drug Task Force Agency who works hard at keeping our citizens safe from all the drugs available on the streets of Washington Parish. They have made a significant impact.