Bath Salts: Death under A Mask of Deceit

Bath Salts are extremely dangerous synthetic stimulants wrapped in a package of deceptive advertising. Their poisonous effects were linked to nearly 23,000 emergency department visits in the United States in 2011 alone. Another study in the Midwestern United States found that more than 16 percent of patients sent to hospital emergency rooms due to Bath Salts were in critical condition or died.

what are bath salts?

“Bath Salts” are not the actual bath salts used in a tub, but toxic drugs whose effects are unpredictable. Bath Salts don’t refer to any single drug, but rather a group of similar substances that are chemically-made versions of a type of drug found naturally in the Khat plant, an evergreen shrub from East Africa and southern Arabia. They are synthetic stimulants that can also cause hallucinatory effects similar to LSD.

Bath Salts often contain a varied mix of chemicals, so even if the packaging looks the same, one never knows what the product actually contains. Usually sold in powdered form in small plastic or foil packages, Bath Salts can be white, off-white, yellow or brown. It is also found in capsules or tablets, or in small jars in liquid form.

Usage methods include smoking, vaporizing, snorting, injecting, taking it rectally or mixing it with food or drink or “bombing” it (swallowing it wrapped in cigarette paper).

Bath Salts fall into the category of “designer drugs”—versions of illegal drugs that have been chemically altered to avoid being classified as illegal. As law enforcement catches up with these substances and makes them illegal, manufacturers devise new alterations to steer clear of the law and the cycle repeats.

Many of the substances in Bath Salts were banned in the US because of their harmful effects, so dealers use “Bath Salts” or other evasive names and falsely advertise them as “plant food,” “jewelry cleaner,” “phone screen cleaner,” and label them “not for human consumption” to escape the law.

the terrifying effects of BATH SALTS

Short-term damage

The list of adverse reactions on the mind and body from Bath Salts is extensive, and all of them are horrendous. These effects include:

Uncontrollable cravings for the drug

Paranoia, hallucinations and delusions

Self-harm, suicidal thoughts or suicide

Skin-crawling sensation

High fever

Chest pains and heart attacks or seizures

The use of Bath Salts induces “excited delirium” that includes extremely bizarre and aggressive behavior, including homicide. For example, there was an incident in New York where a woman under the influence of Bath Salts ran outside naked, attacked her neighbors, then punched and tried to choke her 3-year-old son and strangle her pit bull. When a police officer arrived on the scene, she was violently combative, including growling at and trying to bite him.

Long-term damage

The harm caused by Bath Salts can be long-term and permanent, including:

Kidney failure and liver damage

Breakdown of skeletal muscle tissue

Brain swelling and brain death

Death

A 2013 study found that one of the main substances used in Bath Salts, known as MDPV, is extremely addictive and the adverse effects of it can include prolonged panic attacks, psychosis and death.

reality becomes a nightmare

People who start taking drugs do so in an attempt to attain a “high” or find some “escape” from life. But Bath Salts are a horror trip that one may never return from.

As one person relates, “I am an experienced drug user who experimented with more drugs than I have fingers. [Bath Salts] are more dangerous than crack. The comedown was the worst experience of my life. It lasted 9 hours. Nothing but fear, heart palpitations, jitters, severe nausea, and everything coming and going a million miles an hour. It was terrible. Because of this experience I will never use drugs again. I am lucky to still be alive to warn you. STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM THIS…”—E.W.

In the final analysis, even a short period of drug use can result in a lifetime of pain and misery. Drugs are lethal poisons sold for someone else’s profit, at the expense of your life, welfare and dreams.

THE SOLUTION

The real answer is to get the facts and safeguard yourself, and your future, by not taking drugs in the first place.

Drugs tear families and lives apart. Help educate others and end their destructive grip on our society.

For more information on Synthetics, visit https://www.drugfreeworld.org/drugfacts/synthetics.html.

Drug Free World is the largest and most comprehensive international nongovernmental drug educational and prevention program. Its videos, booklets and teaching aids and free online courses are available in 20 languages. Visit the Drug-Free World website at https://drugfreeworld.org.