"Bath salts" new designer drug craze
Designer drugs designed to look like benign "bath salts" are the newest narcotic, and they're available legally in shops and over the Internete. Still, federal authorities are cracking down, going after people for improperly packaging and labeling the material.
Feds earlier this week raided a storage facility in of all places New Market and seized to barrells of white powder that is marketed as bath salts and gives a high similar to cocaine. The Sun's Jessica Anderston takes us inside a bust in Howard County that led to a broader investigation. Picture at left is a stock image from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
And health officials warn that these new synthetic drugs are dangerous. Eight midshipmen got expelled earlier this year after being found with synthetic marijuana. Here Jessica write about visiiting a "head shop" in Towson:
Geoff Gentry, who has owned Elevation Underground smoke shop in Towson since 2007, said customers began asking for bath salts late last year, and he still gets calls, including one that came as he was speaking to a reporter Tuesday afternoon.
"People are so afraid of losing their jobs because of drug tests," he said, so they look for alternatives that are not detected. "[Distributors] are capitalizing on the whole random drug test thing," he said, adding that "the populace of people after this stuff is astounding."
And when there's a demand, there's a supplier. "I go to trade shows, and the stuff is practically thrown at me," he said.
But Gentry said he's never been interested in selling bath salts or spice. "To me, it's really a moral question. I just sleep better at night knowing I'm not encouraging this synthetic drug."
Categories: Crime elsewhere, Howard County
Comments
Bath salts and other synthetic drugs recently become very common in Pennsylvania. The bath salts had become a growing problem in NE PA, and most of the communities and counties there outlawed them which has had a big effect on their usage.
The bath salts are real bad stuff too as they had some very bad incidents in NE PA from their usage. This is something which Maryland officials need to get ahead of now in dealing with them or this situation can end up getting real bad.
Posted by: Stan | May 27, 2011 8:50 AM
I'm sure there is at least one yuppie out there that used it as bath salt...
Posted by: Bob Smithey | May 27, 2011 9:25 AM
While I am a active user of designer drugs, and do not condone the use of drugs that harm others, in todays day and times with the state of America : the job market and people losing there homes its no wonder why people seek escape from the reality of todays world, through desiger drugs such as bath salts or spice or the many other designer drugs out there. When the officials of the good ole usa get it together they will make them illegal for sure, but as i discussed with a friend of mine who stated that " its hard to make illegal a product thats made for something esle and used not for that intention" true enough if a person wants to smoke or ingest another way a plastic or chemical thats not for ingestion but for something else then how do you make a legal substance illegal? do away with bath salts or insence becauce of a few idiots that want to ingest a legal substance for a high. But this is America and the freedom of choise is here as well as products for abuse remember freon?
Posted by: Del D Church | May 29, 2011 3:38 PM
I think they should legalize all the drugs that are currently illegal. Not because I think people should do them, but to alleviate the violence associated with the drug trade. Think of how many people die behind the drug trade, not just here but in Mexico and all over the world. The money that's spent on enforcement could then be diverted to preventing and investigating other crime (No need to layoff a single person.) The money that's spent incarcerating purely narcotics offenders could be spent on educational programs or we could reduce taxes.
Posted by: apdbaltimore | May 30, 2011 12:14 AM