“Not Your Grandma’s Bath Salts”

Are not your Grandma’s bath salt or what most people think The term ‘bath salts’ refer to commercially available product that have as part of their composition what was until recently a legal stimulant called Methylenedioxypyrovalerone, or MDPV. They have been sold over the internet, and on the street, in convenience stores, discount tobacco outlets, gas stations, pawnshops, among other locations. The various brands are sold in 50-milligram to 500-milligram packets. Prices range from $25 to $50 per 50-milligram Packet.

They‘re known by a variety of names, including Red Dove, Blue Silk, Zoom, Bloom, Cloud Nine, Ocean Snow, Lunar Wave, Vanilla Sky, Ivory Wave, White Lightning, Scarface, Purple Wave, Blizzard, Star Dust, Lovey Dovey, Snow Leopard, Aura, and Hurricane Charlie. While they have become popular under the guise of selling the product as ‘bath salts’, they are sometimes sold as other products such as insect repellant, or plant food with names like “Bonsai Grow” among others.

MDVP is a powerful stimulant that effects the central nervous and cardiovascular systems. Physical Effects: rapid heartbeat, increase in blood pressure, vascular constriction, sweating. Mental Effects: euphoria, increases in alertness & awareness, increased wakefulness and arousal, anxiety, agitation, perception of a diminished requirement for food and sleep. MDVP has four times the potency of ritalin Is labeled online as legal cocaine or amphetamines

The effects have a duration of roughly 3 to 4 hours, with after effects such as tachycardia, hypertension, and mild stimulation lasting from 6 to 8 hours. There have been reports that users are reporting chest pains, increased blood pressure, increased heart rate, agitation, hallucinations, extreme paranoia, and delusions and suicidal thoughts. Bath salts can quickly cause people to crave re-use of the substance, and are strongly addicting

"If you take the very worst of some of the other drugs -- LSD and Ecstasy with their hallucinogenic- delusional type properties, PCP with extreme agitation, superhuman strength and combativeness, as well as the stimulant properties of cocaine and meth -- if you take all the worst of those and put them all together this is what you get. It's ugly,“ Mark Ryan – Director of Louisiana Poison Control Center on ABC’s 20/20

Psychosis effects are linked to suicides and attempts Effects many times are not controllable in the emergency room with sedatives – even valium. Even after someone is sedated and then eventually weaned off – the psychosis reappears and the subject becomes uncontrollable again. Contrary to other drugs where the person at least returns to “normal” until using again.

In September of 2011 the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) used their emergency authority to ban the chemicals in bath salts calling them an “imminent hazard to the public”. The DEA emergency ban took effect in October of 2011 and made it illegal to possess or sell mephedrone, MDPV, and methylone -- all key ingredients for "bath salts" -- for one year while they work with the Department of Health and Human Services to "further study whether these chemicals should be permanently controlled."

In July of 2011 the Michigan Legislature made the ingredients of bath salts, specifically MDVP and mephedrone Schedule 1 Drugs which makes them illegal to sell or use. Nationally the DEA is moving in the same direction. In reality making laws can only go so far The first bill to ban bath salts in Michigan was actually passed in February of 2011 – it had to be passed a second time as the manufactures altered the chemical composition thus making it outside the regulation.

Acknowledge that there is a real problem that we are not immune to We can make new laws that make it more difficult to use these substances – that is a good start Must open a dialogue with the kids Engage them in the discussion Be realistic – Listen, they many times tell us what is really going on.