America has met its next enemy, and the states are getting restless. Bath salts. They're the new target of states like Texas, Ohio, Idaho, and more, where legislators are working to have them made totally illegal.
Cue the sturm und drang. How DARE they take away our favorite tootsie-soaking stuffs? Don't they know what hard working 'mericans need for a little R&R after a long day at work? Just wait. I've got good news y'all!
The bath salt bans sweeping across the states have nothing to do with the kind of salts that are you getting all pruney in the tub. These laws are focused solely on ridding the shelves of hallucinogenic bath salts, currently sold legally but not at beauty stores. Sold under names like Cloud 9, White Lightning Bounce, Bubbles, M-CAT, Mad Cow, Meow Meow, and Ivory Wave, these salts are typically found at tobacco shops, gas stations, and the like, carrying hefty price tags (one Ohio cop quoted a price of $20 for a half gram).
But the real problem is what's done with them. People, often teenagers, will take the hallucinogenic "salts" and smoke, snort, even inject them to achieve a high that's been compared to methamphetamine -- a substance that's already illegal.
The salts have an entirely different chemical makeup from the purdy smellin' stuff you get mom on Mother's Day. They're packed with chemicals like MPDV, Mephedrone, Methylone, and Methcathinone, drugs structurally and pharmaceutically similar to methamphetamine. The results are similar. You get high. You get hooked. You hallucinate, often with devastating results. The law currently in the Texas legislature is being pushed by the family of a 31-year-old man who committed suicide to escape the hallucinations.
So to sum up: bath salts in the bath are OK. No one's putting your pedicurist out of biz or taking away your Sunday afternoon soak. Phewwwww. But if you are thinking about shooting the stuff up your nose in Texas, Ohio, Idaho, Florida, Louisiana, and more ... you'd best be prepared for prison because legislation is getting close to being finalized.
Yikes! After all that, I think I could use a nice long soak in the tub to recover. How about you? Are you a fan of the bath salt bans?
Image via judepics/Flickr