Certain synthetic cathinones are used in medications to treat specific conditions. Others, such as the ones found in bath salts, are illegal cocaine addiction in the U.S. Signs of use include suicidal thoughts, agitation, combative or violent behavior, confusion, hallucinations and psychosis.
Legal status
“And they can be deadly for people with underlying cardiovascular disease.” Cases of myocardial infarction, stroke, cerebral edema, coma, cardiovascular collapse, and death have been reported in people using bath salts. The effects of the drugs also vary based on the route of administration; they can be swallowed, snorted, injected, or inserted into the rectum or vagina. Cathinone comes from a plant called khat, found in East Africa and southern Arabia. You can chew the leaves of the khat plant to get a mild stimulant effect. The human-made version of cathinone in bath salts is stronger and more dangerous.
Bath Salts Overdose Symptoms
Bath salts (synthetic cathinones) look and feel a lot like Epsom salts. If you or someone you know is fighting drug addiction, recovery is possible. Talk to your health care drinking was hard on my marriage so was recovery. provider or check your state or local health department websites. While the DEA banned khat in 1993 by banning cathinone, it didn’t ban all chemicals based on this drug.
Addiction Treatment Levels of Care
You can get intense withdrawal symptoms when you stop taking them, which make it hard not to use again. Snorting and injecting bath salts are the most dangerous methods. People who use the drug this way are more likely to overdose.
This lesson includes:
Drugs.com provides accurate and independent information on more than 24,000 prescription drugs, over-the-counter medicines and natural products. This material is provided for educational purposes only and is not intended for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Data sources include Micromedex (updated 6 May 2024), Cerner Multum™ (updated 6 May 2024), ASHP (updated 10 Apr 2024) and others. Dual diagnosis of bath salts addicted individuals indicates the need for treatment that addresses both issues in an integrated fashion by practitioners with training and experience with helping this specific population. But bath salts continue to be sold on the Internet and in retail stores, camouflaged under names such as stain remover, research chemicals, plant food, and insect repellent. “The ban might make people who thought bath salts were legal stay away, but it isn’t going to stop people who really want access to them,” says Nelson.
Bath salts users tend to be male slightly more often than female and younger than the users of other drugs, and most use it at least weekly. Most bath salts users snort or otherwise inhale the drug, causing a more intense high and higher risk of addiction and complications. These substances bear structural similarities to natural cathinones but are chemically stronger.
However, it remained relatively unknown until the beginning of this century. Chemists had discovered this class of compounds in 1910, and given the habits of chemists at the time, they probably consumed a little of it. Those addicted to bath salts require professional help to support their recovery.
- The U.S. government passed the Synthetic Drug Abuse Prevention Act (SDAPA) in July 2012.
- “The clinical picture will be different for each.” Immunoassay screens routinely used for drugs of abuse in emergency departments don’t detect MDPV and other components of bath salts, adding to clinical confusion.
- The frequency that addictions to any drug, including bath salts, occur within some families seems to be higher than can be explained by the addictive environment of the family.
The initial stage of treatment manages the drug’s immediate side effects, including temperature regulation and aggression. Healthcare providers also screen for co-occurring mental health conditions and devise a treatment plan based on medical advice. In 2011, former president Barack Obama classified it as a Schedule I controlled substance, including substances like mephedrone, methylone, and MDVP. They have higher potency than natural cathinones of the khat plant of East Africa and Southern Arabia. “We tested one package of bath salts obtained from New York City and found it contained a synthetic cannabinoid and caffeine and another one from Venice Beach, California, that contained 100% lidocaine,” says Ryan.
Compared to drugs like cocaine and marijuana, there is less research on how K2/Spice and bath salts work in the brain. Researchers do know that these drugs attach to the same areas in the brain, called receptors, where chemicals in cocaine and marijuana attach. Researchers have also found that K2/Spice can produce stronger effects than marijuana and that bath salts can produce stronger effects than cocaine. The first danger of bath salts involve the chemicals that are used to create the end product. Professional lab-produced drugs are safer because there are stringent safety procedures to eliminate all harmful byproducts.
As ‘New Psychoactive Substances,’ the effects of bath salts are akin to MDMA or amphetamines. The enduring high and extreme behavior may stem in part from the insidious combination of the compounds in bath salts. “But it’s worse than that,” says De Felice, who is beginning to study bath salts’ dopaminergic action in rats. Promoted as providing a “legal high” that can escape detection in 12 steps of aa what are the principles of aa drug tests, bath salts are intended to mimic the hallucinogenic and euphoric highs of methamphetamine or cocaine. At lower doses, they’ve also been marketed as a substitute for methylphenidate (Ritalin) to sharpen mental concentration and as an aphrodisiac. Adding to the attraction is the cheap price; a 200-mg package of bath salts—which may be 3 hits—sells for as little as $15 to $20.