Thursday, January 6, 2011
First mojo ... now fake bath salts
Posted by Kevin Allman @NOLAKevin on Thu, Jan 6, 2011 at 1:46 PM
According to a press release from Jindal's office, the Louisiana Poison Control office has received 165 emergency calls from users of the drug since September, far outstripping any other state in the nation. Jindal has requested an investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to find out why the fake bath salts have become so popular in Louisiana. Like mojo, the over-the-counter substances have been sold at outlets from gas-station convenience stores to head shops, and they're readily available on the Internet under trade names like "Ivory Wave" and "Cloud 9." Users shoot, snort, or smoke them in an attempt to get a speedy high.
The ingredients being added to the Schedule I classification (a controlled dangerous substance) are derivatives of mephedrone and methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV). Both have been banned in countries across the European Union, where the bath-salt fad seems to have begun more than a year ago. In April 2010, England reclassified mephedrone as a Class B substance, like codeine or cannabis, but a report seven months later in the British medical journal The Lancet concluded the ban, with its attendant publicity, could have done more harm than good:
In the current 2010 survey, the mean price per gram paid for mephedrone was £16 (mode, £20), compared with a mean price of £10 when the drug was obtainable online before legislation. These findings suggest that classification of mephedrone has had a limited effect on controlling its availability and use. Before the introduction of the legislation, users generally obtained mephedrone via the internet. Now they buy it from street dealers, on average at double the price. We suspect that, in time, there are likely to be reductions in purity, and increases in health harms.
“These drugs have crept into our communities and they are hurting our kids. We have to do everything in our power to protect our children and to make sure our streets are safe for our families," Jindal said in a statement.
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