Ballwin's Bath Salt, 'Fake Pot' Bans Follow Commercial Drug Trend

Ballwin City Council members late Monday banned two commercially-sold products used as recreational drugs in response to recent state laws and reported abuses of the drugs nationwide.

Included in the ban were bath salts, which are labeled as such but usually sold at smoke shops, gas stations or similar stores. The drug utilizes the chemical methylenedioxypyrovalerone  (or MDPV) to create a wide range of emotions that can include delusions of having super-powers, hallucinations and violence.

Also included in the ban were synthetic cannabinoids. Sold under street names such as “K2” and "spice", synthetic cannabinoids use chemical compounds made in laboratories to recreate the effects of marijuana or its psychoactive chemical THC. Some reports say these chemicals then are sprayed on to a potpourri-like mixture that can be smoked, though the product usually is labeled as incense.

Synthetic cannabinoids were outlawed in Missouri last year, while a ban on bath salts followed this summer.

The who encounter the drug in smaller quantities and allow them to prosecute those suspects in municipal court.

Ballwin Police Chief Steve Schicker said he wasn’t aware that either product was sold in Ballwin, but said K2 and bath salts are part of wave of commercially-sold recreational drugs that are intentionally mislabeled.

Shicker said he recently heard a story from a Kansas City law enforcement officer who made a traffic stop where the driver had been using a syringe. Schicker said, however, that the substance the driver allegedly used was sold as a sports drink, which when broken down with another substance, could be injected.

“It’s not a controlled substance,” Schicker said. “That’s what we’re trying to prevent. There are so many of these products that are coming out new.”

Schicker said the ban would take effect immediately.