DALLAS - A new substitute for meth or ecstasy being sold legally in Texas as bath salts has emergency room physicians and toxicologists alarmed. Doctors said the novelty item has dangerous side effects.
Anyone over the age of 18 can purchase vials of the fake bath salts at pipe and smoke shops for about $30.
“It’s marketed as a novelty item called bath salts and what it ends up being is kind of a methamphetamine substitute or ecstasy substitute,” said Dr. Stacy Hail, an emergency room physician.
Dr. Hail is sharing what she’s learned with other North Texas doctors.
She said teenage males are primarily the ones abusing the drug. They are ingesting it instead of putting it into bath water.
“With these bath salts we don’t’ know 100 percent what’s in them. We don’t know how much of that chemical is in it. And, when we’re finding out that people are having psychosis that may last for days or weeks on end, that’s really concerning because we’ve never seen anything like that before,” she said.
Both parents and teens need to be aware of the dangers, Hail said.
“Most guys don't like to take baths, so if they start coming home with bath salts you need to be concerned and realize that this is a new drug that is starting to be abused,” she said. “Right now as we speak there are individuals in Louisiana who not only have died but are still in the hospital weeks after they used this drug.”
Last week Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal banned the products making the sale and distribution punishable by up to 30 years in prison.
The North Texas Poison Control Center just started getting calls about bath salts last week. Lawmakers in Texas have not yet addressed the substance.
Additional Resources:
Drug Free Hotline: 1-(855)-HOPE-NOW 1-(855)-467-3669
Drug Addiction Library: http://www.treatmentthatworks.com/
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