While efforts to outlaw synthetic marijuana compounds found in herbal incense products such as K2 and Spice have garnered the spotlight lately, another dangerous drug has emerged causing even greater concern among health professionals – Bath Salts.
Florida and several other states have recently banned, or are considering banning, the sale of these packets of white powder sold in smoke shops and convenience stores under brand names like Ivory Wave, Vanilla Sky, Zoom 2, Pixie Dust, Sextacy, Ocean Burst, Purple Rain, Hurricane Charlie, and many more.
Users of bath salts snort, inject, or smoke the powder, which acts as a stimulant to produce a cocaine and meth-like high. The stimulants in these products affect neurotransmitters in the brain, which can cause hallucinations, paranoia, rapid heartbeat, violent behavior, and suicidal thoughts.
Across the country, there have been an increasing number of reports from hospital emergency rooms and poison control centers about cases of exposure to the chemicals in bath salt powders, containing mephedrone and methylenedioxypyrovalerone, also known as MDPV. According to the American Association of Poison Control Centers, there were 291 calls in 2010 about people hospitalized after bath salt abuse. Reports of usage spiked up to 373 cases in the first month of 2011.
For more information or medical assistance after contact with bath salts, contact the FL Poison Information Center in Tampa at 1-800-222-1222.
No comments:
Post a Comment