Bath salts are a group of recreational designer drugs that contain man-made chemicals that increase brain and central nervous system activity in much the same way as drugs like amphetamines or MDMA (Ecstasy). They are not a hygiene product used for bathing, as the name might imply, but are dangerous synthetic cathinones. The most commonly reported ingredient is methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV), although other stimulants may be present, such as mephedrone. Bath salts are sold as a white or off-white powder, mostly in small plastic or foil packages, and are usually snorted, swallowed, smoked, or mixed with a liquid and injected with a syringe.
Positive:
- Bath salts can enhance the natural healing and soothing effects of a warm bath, help release stress, relax muscles, and stimulate circulation.
Negative:
- Bath salts can lead to serious, and even fatal adverse reactions, and have caused a number of deaths and been blamed for a handful of suicides and murders).
- Bath salts can cause users to have an out-of-body experience, elated mood, or feel delirious, but also agitation, irritability, insomnia, dizziness, panic attacks, depression, suicidal thoughts, paranoia, delusions, and hallucinations.
- Bath salts have a powerful addictive potential, as well as the ability to induce tolerance, and reports note intense cravings similar to what methamphetamine users experience.
Ingredients or materials:
- Bath salts usually contain a cathinone, typically methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV), methylone, or mephedrone, but the chemical composition varies widely and products labeled with the same name may also contain derivatives of pyrovalerone or pipradrol).
- Bath salts also contain man-made chemicals that increase brain and central nervous system activity in much the same way as drugs like amphetamines or MDMA (Ecstasy).
- Simply Salts bath salts contain Dead Sea Salt, Himalayan Pink Salt, Mediterranean Sea Salt, and Noirmoutier French Grey Sea Salt.
