Bath salts are among the newest of designer drugs. Sometimes referred to as ‘fake cocaine’, bath salts are a type of amphetamine. This highly dangerous substance was originally made up of legal ingredients in labs, but more recently a number of western countries have begun to declare some of the substances used in the creation of bath salts illegal, in an effort to stop the sale of the drug in person and over the internet. The drug is most commonly snorted, but it can be ingested by swallowing, smoking and injecting.
While the effects of bath salts on the body are not fully known due to it being a relatively new substance, the ‘high’ is similar to that of cocaine in the sense of the alertness and euphoria acquired from ingesting as well as an increased sex drive. The risks involved with bath salts include nasty side effects such as psychosis, violent behavior, panic attacks, dehydration and kidney failure. Users of the substance also reported an intense need to use it again.
“Bath salts” are a new family of drugs containing one or more manmade chemicals related to cathinone, an amphetamine-like stimulant found naturally in the khat plant.
There have been reports of severe intoxication and dangerous health effects from using bath salts. These reports have made the drugs a serious and growing public health and safety issue
While research regarding bath salts is ongoing, it is important to note that since the exact chemical make up can be different with each dose, and often contain unknown substances, that people avoid the drug altogether. Even ‘experienced’ drug users are putting themselves at severe risk. The scariest and most pressing problem of bath salts is that scientists do not yet know the long-term effects of the drug, and their job isn’t made easy by the producers of bath salts who are constantly changing the chemical make-up of the drug to defy the ongoing efforts to make bath salts illegal.