RI Officials warn against bath salts after Miami cannibal incident

Posted: 6/8/2012 11:02:06 AM
Updated: 6/8/2012 12:38:22 PM

Bath Salts have become the latest drug craze but it is turning horrifying after a man high on bath salts ate the face off a homeless man in Miami and the Rhode Island Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities, and Hospitals is warning people of the dangers.

“Bath salts are neither the things you would find in your home, put in your bath, buy at bath and body nor are they salts. Bath salts are actually a synthetic product that contain hallucinogenic and mind altering chemicals similar to the structures you find in cocaine and ecstasy,” Rebecca Boss Administer of the Rhode Island Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities, and Hospitals told the WPRO Morning News with Tara Granahan and Andrew Gobeil. These ‘salts’ have catchy names like  “Blue Wave,” “Cloud Nine,” and “White Lady” and they are sold at head shops, smoke shops, adult book stores and gas stations.

“This is definitely a rev up drug it much more of an amphetamine, or a cocaine like type of drug, so people get revved up they get speeded up, there are signs of agitation their heart rate increases some have hallucinations, seizures and paranoia,” said Boss. Boss said so far Rhode Islands has not seen any kids admitted to treatment because of Bath Salts but said it is likely because this is a fairly new drug.

Boss also noted it is impossible to detect if someone has been using bath salts. “There really is no reliable lab test that you can use to learn about someone who is using bath salts.” The drug is taken by ingestion or snorting.

According to statistics in 2010 the American Association of Poison Control Centers received 300 calls regarding bath salts, in 2011 they received over 6000. “It’s really a very recent phenomenon,” said Boss.

Dee DeQuattro | WPRO News