Last updated : November 11, 2024
Bath salts may be one of the most alarming “legal” designer drugs on the market today. These drugs are made from a number of legal or quasi-legal substances and are frequently sold in places such as gas stations and “head shops.” Although these drugs are relatively new, having only achieved popularity and notoriety in North America in 2010, they have quickly proven to be a very dangerous alternative to the other drugs whose effects they imitate, such as methamphetamine, Ecstasy, or cocaine. Poison control centers fielded nearly ten thousand calls from the beginning of 2010 to the middle of 2012 concerning victims of salt use or abuse. These drugs are particularly popular because they are inexpensive and powerfully addictive.
The medical establishment is unsure of how the chemicals interact with the human body, especially the brain. Because they are so new, the body of research on the health risks and effects of these salts is in its infancy and primarily consists of conjecture. As of October 2012, the number of known deaths from its use in Florida alone had passed twenty, prompting government officials to describe these salts as an “emerging domestic threat.”
These salts look similar to epsom salts, which are legitimate, non-intoxicant bath additives, but have very different properties. Many “salt” variations are made with chemicals that imitate the chemical cathinone, a naturally occurring substance found in the kath plant and known to scientists for almost a hundred years. In its natural form, cathinone is a stimulant. Cathinone-type synthetic chemicals not only reproduce the stimulant effect of cathinone, but have short- and long-term effects that are not well documented or understood by the scientific community.
These designer drugs are known under a host of innocuous-sounding names such as Cloud, Bliss, Purple Wave, and Vanilla Sky, but are in truth anything but. Reports of bath salt users spiking fatally high fevers or behaving in a manner reminiscent of PCP use are common, and the infamous “zombie” video where a Florida man allegedly bit off most of a homeless man’s face while under the influence of salts drew national headlines. Other stories of salts abuse and bizarre behavior include a man who menaced an elderly woman with a shovel and a man who assaulted a highway patrolman and then attempted to injure an ambulance attendant. One man allegedly ran through a busy intersection screaming a rap song. Police Tasered him, but the man shrugged off the electrical charge. According to the Tampa Bay Times, the man’s heart stopped five times before he finally collapsed and died of an extremely high fever.
Some signs and symptoms of salts use include a high fever or flushing, excitability, rapid speech and/or breathing, irrational behavior, or even violence. Salts users may be confused or find themselves in the grip of paranoiac delusions, during which anyone in the vicinity may be viewed as an enemy of the user. Because salts users have been known to be violent, this “legal” drug may be one of the most dangerous on the market. Salts abuse has torn apart families and ruined or ended lives, both financially, socially, and literally.
Authorities are working to crack down on salts sales and use. The trouble is that when one “active” ingredient is made illegal, the manufacturers change the formula to incorporate an unregulated compound. Because of this, the prevalence of salts on the open market remains more or less undiminished.
Salts use has definite personal and social ramifications, and may be particularly dangerous in a work environment. Salts abusers often cannot be reasoned with and are dangerously difficult to restrain, making them a threat to themselves and others. The ramifications for business owners is chilling, because they could be held liable for a user’s activities.
The best way for business owners to protect themselves and their employees is prevention, awareness, and education concerning salts use. While not all the chemicals in bath salts show up in a regular drug screen, the metabolites of bath salts frequently do. Making drug testing mandatory on a random basis and after an injury or accident can help reduce the company’s liability and make the workplace a safe and healthy environment for all.
