Calgon, Take Me Away! or Mom's Tweaking on the Bath Salts Again!

The bar on moronic ways to achieve a high has sunk yet again. As if huffing gasoline and glue weren't boneheaded enough, out of the Annals of Inscrutable Behavior comes getting a high from bath salts.

I've read several news reports recently about products marketed as bath salts becoming a growing drug problem. These substances are injected, smoked, or snorted and produce a hallucinogenic high that has led to impulsive, violent, and delirious behavior in some users. Take, for example, Neil Brown of Fulton, Mississippi. He got high on some bath salts and then grabbed his skinning knife and slit open his face and stomach. Brown lived to tell his tale, stating, "I couldn't tell you why I did it." That about says it, don't you think?

Apparently, the substances in these powders are stimulants with effects similar to methamphetamine. In fact, many of the users appear to be meth addicts (I guess it's easier than dealing with the stench of a meth lab in your house!) The parent substance of the drugs, cathinone, is derived from an African plant and is regulated. The chemical substitutes mephedrone and methylenedioxypyrovalerone, also known as MDPV, are made in a lab and, at this point, are not illegal since they are not intended for human consumption. They can cause hallucinations, paranoia, rapid heart rate,and suicidal thoughts (sounds like my idea of a good time, how 'bout you?).Several states are now looking to enact laws to ban the substances in these "bath salts." Louisiana has already done so. Unless someone can find a way to ban stupidity, these jackwagons will continue to find ways to get high. Hey, anyone got some Comet bathroom cleaner I can smoke?