As teens and seemingly everyone else looks to get high anywhere they can, bath salts are becoming the latest drug rage. If you follow this blog, which I know many of you do from the countless comments on both it and my onlinealcoholclass.com blog, you know I have written about this a couple of times already.
As it becomes a bigger problem here in the United States it is nice to see the legal system stopping the sale of a substance that is lethal, though never intended for recreational drug use. The most recent state to ban the sale of bath salts – Ohio.
Ohio retailers will no longer be able to sell synthetic recreational drugs marketed as bath salts and K2 or spice, and use and possession of the substances also will be banned when a new state law goes into effect Monday.
The legislation signed by Gov. John Kasich in July adds synthetic marijuana known as K2 or spice and six synthetic derivatives of cathinone that have been found in bath salts to the list of Schedule 1 controlled substances. The products have been sold legally at convenience stores, tobacco shops and other businesses.
The K2 or spice contains organic leaves coated with chemicals that provide a marijuana-like high when smoked, and bath salts drugs are crystalized chemicals typically snorted or injected that provide a cocaine-like high. The substances have been known to cause reactions including hallucinations, paranoia, severe agitation and seizures, and that bath salts reportedly have been linked to deaths in Ohio and elsewhere.
As more people around the country have experimented with the synthetic drugs, more medical problems have been reported and more efforts have begun to ban the substances.
The American Association of Poison Control Centers reported last month that the number of calls to the country's poison centers rose dramatically from 303 in 2010 to more than 4,700 in the first seven months of this year. The American Medical Association has come out in support of national legislation to ban bath salts, and several states have implemented their own bans on bath salts and K2 or both.
Under Ohio's new law, penalties for possession or trafficking of K2 or spice will be the same as those for marijuana — a minor misdemeanor for possession and a felony for trafficking in the vicinity of a school or juvenile. Possession and trafficking of bath salts would fall under the normal felony penalties for Schedule 1 controlled substances such as cocaine and amphetamines.
There's a perception that these products are somehow safer than street drugs because they come in eye-catching packaging and are sold in gas stations, convenience stores and novelty shops. The reality is, these substances are dangerous and can have life-threatening consequences.