Getting buzzed in the bathroom is not a good idea:

Ah, that relaxing bath at the end of a long day; don’t these sound like great products to help soak away your cares? Well, not exactly, since truth is often much stranger than fiction. If you’re doing – or thinking of doing – anything with your bath hygiene items other than pampering your body, please read this and think it over.

addictive bath salt

Do Not Inhale!

On January 23rd, ABC News and the Associated Press reported that so-called “bath salts” sold in convenience stores and via the Internet are actually extremely dangerous substances that cause terrifying, vivid hallucinations with violent content, suicidal and/or homicidal behavior. The Bath Salts are commonly referred to by these names:

  • Ivory Wave
  • Bliss*
  • Red Dove
  • Vanilla Sky
  • White Lightening
  • Hurricane Charlie

Ivory Wave Horror Stories

The report quoted a man named Neil Brown of Fulton, Mississippi who, after getting high on one of these products, slashed his face and stomach repeatedly with a skinning knife.  Lucky to be alive, Brown described himself as an habitual street drug user who still suffers from the psychological and physical effects of his “bath salt” misadventure.

There’s also Dickie Sanders, a 21 y/o Louisiana man who cut his own throat and then shot himself to death after a three-day bath salt binge, and the unnamed man who allegedly shot and killed a sheriff’s deputy while high on one of these smoothly-named killers.

The chemicals contained in these products include mephedrone and methylenedioxypyrovalerone, known as MDPV. Dr. Mark Ryan of Louisiana’s poison control center, told the Associated Press that cathinone, the root drug of MDPV, comes from an African plant. Once used, it causes intense cravings and binges. “Even though it’s a horrible trip, they want to do it again and again,” said Dr. Ryan. The drug also causes intense paranoia, delirium and ultra-rapid heart rate. MDPV isn’t a controlled substance in America because it’s not intended for human consumption; the AP/ABC story didn’t explain what purpose the laboratory-made chemical actually has, but it’s also been sold as a plant food.
Poison control centers in Mississippi, Louisiana, California, Missouri, Nevada, and Oregon have received an alarming number of calls about the “bath salt” products since early January, 2011, and as far back as October, 2010. Lawmakers in these and other states are contemplating marketing bans on any product containing MDPV. Louisiana has already issued an emergency ban after its poison control center received 125 calls in the past three months, mostly concerning young people who experimented with the MDPV products without knowing about their lethality. Law enforcement officials say that the products are favored by methamphetamine users, and are most often snorted, injected, or smoked. Like meth, MDPV is a central nervous system stimulant that has a similar overdose profile, causing death from stroke or heart failure.
Remember the scene in the movie Hannibal where the grossly disfigured character, Mason Verger, described clawing his own face off while under the influence of both an hallucinogenic drug and the sadistic Hannibal Lechter? Yep, sometimes truth really is stranger than fiction. If you enjoy soaking the day away in a warm tub, your local pharmacy is the best place to find a soothing bath salt.

* Not to be confused with the Bliss line of cosmetic and hygiene products that have no connection with the “Bliss” name as used in this story.