Until a few years ago, most Americans thought “bath salts” were just a relaxing, luxurious addition to a bath.
Bath Salt Madness
But, now, most Americans have heard horror stories about “bath salt” users’ weird, hallucinating, and sometimes violent behavior. Who can forget the story in Florida where the man high on bath salts ate a person’s face?
Bath salts are powerful, complex chemical blends that make synthetic drugs. They are packaged in bright, colorful packages and labeled as “not for human consumption.” But, users know that human consumption is actually what they are designed for. The drugs have been described as “cocaine on steroids.”
As the Columbus Dispatch reported in February 2013, local law enforcement and medical personnel have encountered strange and psychotic behavior from people high on bath salts. For example, a Reynoldsburg man high on bath salts thought that raccoons stole his cellphone and were trying to burn his house. So, he chopped up his deck trying to find the animal thieves. Another Ohio man bit chunks out of his dog.
Instead of the street corners where illegal drugs are often found, bath salts are commonly sold in corner markets, convenience stores, or smoke shops. They are considered “designer drugs” that were often purchased and used because they provided a powerful high but were not illegal. But that is no longer the case. Ohio law now forbids selling synthetic drugs. The Ohio General Assembly has now approved two laws making synthetic drugs illegal.
Ohio Attorney General, Mike DeWine, said Ohio is cracking down on sellers of bath salts. The State sent retailers a letter in November informing them that state law forbade selling bath salts, as well as other synthetic drugs. Law enforcement officers are now raiding businesses that are still selling the drugs.
