Malibu Beach Recovery Center

When Pat first reported on the new “bath salt” epidemic, it didn’t really click.    Even her “bath salt” update had me scratching my head. 

Then the manager of our sober living found Ann (not her real name), a young resident, wandering around the front yard speaking to the bushes.  Her co-residents said she had ordered “bath salts” over the internet.  She seemed fine several days later, but in only a matter of weeks the manager told me she had been admitted to the UCLA’s Neuropsychiatric Institute where she reportedly remained for two weeks strapped to her bed.

A month ago I got a call from a Southern California college town.  Miles (not his real name)  -- bright, articulate and charming -- said he needed help, the type that an outpatient program could not provide.  He was ready to “do the work” in a safe, secure setting rather than tangle with the law and “lose everything.”

From the vast amounts of drugs Miles, 21, reported having taken since he was 15, he was one hard core addict.  He had managed 6 months of sobriety in 2010.  Then “all hell broke loose” and he was arrested for possession of Xanax, cocaine, and marijuana, as well as intent to sell marijuana  In jail he stayed high on suboxone which was mailed to him glued to the flap of the envelope (Pat wrote about this last December).

One day a friend introduced him to “bath salts,” a designer stimulant which mimics the high of cocaine and methamphetamine.  Note to Normies (non addicts):  These are not the lavender scented crystals on sale at your local drug store.  These are possibly the most dangerous drug on the market today, produced in clandestine labs, sold online or in smoke and head shops.  

“Bath Salts” are usually made from MDPV or methylenedioxypyrovalerone, a psychoactive drug, though newer derivatives are being made by illegal street chemists.   Dr. Zane Horowitz, MD, an emergency room physician and medical director of the Oregon Poison Center described for WebMD the side effects he has observed: "agitation, paranoia, hallucinations, chest pain, sucide...high blood pressure and increased pulse."  He added:  There's something more causing these other extreme effects."

Most often the label on "bath salts" attempts to skirt legality by stating the product is not for human consumption (which is not a deterrent to young adults who anyway smoke, snort or inject them). 

In September 2011 the Drug Enforcement Administration used emergency scheduling authority to temporarily control MDPV (along with Mephedrone and Methylone) by classifying it as a Schedule I Substance.

Schedule I status is reserved for those substances with such a high potential for abuse they cannot be used for treatment in the United States.  Until next September, and possibly forever, possession or sale of MPDV is illegal.. 

Last November California followed the lead of at least 28 states and banned “bath salts.” 

Nonetheless, there is still a single source in Miles’ college town – a smoke shop that also sells salvia (an herb with hallucinogenic properties) and spice (an herbal alternative to marijuana) .  Miles said the “bath salts” he inhaled are called “Bubbles” and come in a “ready to snort”  container with a twist off cap.  The powder itself “looks a lot like Splenda.” 

The “bath salt” containers are kept locked in a glass showcase.  The store's only clerk has the key.  Miles said each container cost $35.00 cash and is labeled:  “Not for human consumption- does not contain MDPV.”  

(Dr. Charles Sophy, a favorite Malibu Beach Recovery Center psychiatrist warned:  “Consumers should not be fooled.  Bath Salt ingredients, no matter what disguise they may come in, still remain a potential substance for abuse.  The abuse potential and its aftermath can be very harmful.” )

Miles described the “bath salts” as rendering the “best” high ever.  10 times better than a meth, he said.  And unlike all the other drugs he has ever snorted/injected/smoked, it was the bath salts which took him down.  Each container kept Miles “loaded” for up to 8 hours.  By the time he called Malibu Beach Recovery Center he could no longer go more than an hour without bath salts.  It had become a $100/day habit that “had me by the throat.” 

For Miles the side effects included delusions, insomnia ( he reported having had no more than 6 hours in twelve days), shortness of breath, restless leg syndrome, anxiety, and  lack of appetite.   

“When I hugged him,” said his mom, “he had lost so much weight I could feel all the ribs, all the bones.”

Twenty four days after entering treatment Miles relapsed.  Somehow he had obtained Xanax. Relapse while in treatment is a very rare occurrence at Malibu Beach Recovery Center.  We immediately helped him transfer to a different treatment program.  Two days later his mom emailed:  “He sounds terrible to me.  This morning he woke up in excruciating pain in both hips and could not move.  He needed assistance to get out of bed….I am truly afraid we will lose him.”

The other treatment program then discharged him.  They reported cognitive memory issues and said he was out of control with drug seeking and had no concern for consequences. 

He was checked into a psych ward.   When his insurance ordered him stepped down to a lower level of care, Miles panicked and wanted to go back to the hospital.

I heard from Miles’ dad this morning.  He wrote:  “Unfortunately, the saga continues...” 

Two days earlier Miles had been rushed to the ER.

“The clinical team at his rehab was sure he OD'd on something as he was nodding out during the morning meeting,” wrote his Dad. “ Miles insisted he didn't take anything more than the treatment center gave him.  He walked all the way from the hospital back to the treatment center in flip flops because he needed his meds.  His feet were black, he had a deep cut on his ankle, his foot and ankle were red and swollen and he was limping.  They wouldn't let him on the premises and said they would have to call the cops if he caused a scene.  He paced back and forth across the street and called them and us, begging for a dose of his meds.   

“I was horrified when we picked him up.  He looked like a homeless man I barely recognized, not the handsome young guy with the big smile and bright eyes.  He was dirty, ragged and nodding out when talking to us, and all he had was the medication they prescribed.” 

Miles’ dad is inclined to believe that even if Miles was able to access some street drugs while in treatment, or was able to hoard enough of his prescribed medications to take alot at one time, the amounts available could not have triggered the extreme behavior Miles is exhibiting, all of which mimic the DEA's description of the worst "bath salts" side effects:  impaired perception, reduced motor control, disorientation, extreme paranoia and violent episodes.

Which led me to call Dr. Kenneth Blum and ask him if bath salts have a rebound effect.

Here is what he said:  "There must be additional research done to determine whether after ingesting bath salts a severe neuopsychological rebound can result.    This abused substance may be  more dangerous than even crystal meth and all legal authorities must enforce laws against its sale in the entire United States of America.  Our professional and scientific community must declare "war" against its use to save our precious next generation from its profound neurotoxicity."   

If any of our readers have experienced a rebound from "bath salts", or know about someone who has, please post a comment.  Your information might help save Miles' life, or the life of someone else.

Just when you think there’s not one other substance people could possibly take to get high, bath salts appear. Who would have thought it? There’s been a tragedy in my state thanks to this seemingly innocuous product. A college student killed his girlfriend, and his mother attributes it to the bath salts. It boggles the mind.

The crime was reported in the Asbury Park Press, my local paper, and on New York TV last week. A 22-year-old has had her life cut short, and New Jersey joins other states experiencing violent incidents attributed to bath salts. The woman’s long-time boyfriend, William Parisio, suffers from bipolar disorder and reportedly had problems with alcohol and other drugs. It’s believed he snorted, smoked, ate, or injected the bath salts, which the article said can cause hallucinations, delusions, and agitation, similar to the effects caused cocaine, LSD and other drugs. A Drug Enforcement Administration spokesperson said that the salts also cause insomnia and make one quick to anger.

Appearing on TV, the woman’s heart-broken father said that he had warned his daughter Parisio wasn’t right for her, but she thought she could help him.  She’s not the first girlfriend who has mistakenly thought that about a boyfriend who has problems requiring professional help.

Two NJ lawmakers have stepped up to try and avert further incidents in my state. They’ve suggested legislation to make it a third degree crime and result in a stiff prison sentence and fine for manufacturing, selling, or even possessing bath salts – “products containing mephedrone or methylenedioxypyrovale­rone, also known as MDPV,” according to the newspaper article.

An expert’s thoughts on bath salts made me shudder: “If you take the very worst of some of the other drugs — LSD and Ecstasy with their hallucinogenic properties, PCP with extreme agitation, superhuman strength and combativeness, as well as the stimulant properties of cocaine and meth — if you take all the worst of those and put them all together, this is what you get,” said Mark Ryan, director of the Louisiana Poison Center, in one recent published report. “It’s ugly.”

Three states—North Dakota, Louisiana, and Florida—have banned bath salts. However, you can still buy them, under names like Ivory Wave or Vanilla Sky, at conven­ience stores in other states. 

Four Loko. Four MaXed, Joose…. Fun-sounding words to some people, but these alcoholic energy drinks are often responsible for some not-so-fun results. If you don’t follow the news, you may have missed the story last month about several Central Washington University students ending up in the hospital after ingesting Four Loko at a college party. 

The New York Times described the drink as a ‘fruit-flavored malt beverage.” According to an AOL article, Four Loko contains 12 percent alcohol along with caffeine.  (Wikipedia says alcohol content varies by state, however.) One problem is that people don’t feel the effects of the alcohol initially because of the caffeine. Another problem has to do with the amount ingested—if someone chugs, say, three Four Lokos, it can be the same as drinking 18 beers. So it’s understandable that the party goers got violently ill. Four Loko didn’t get its nickname, Blackout in a Can, for nothing.

Did I really just use a euphemism? Got violently ill? Heck, the students showed “symptoms of life-threatening overdose or intoxication”, according to the AOL article. They could have died. How many more college students have to die for marketers to stop developing products like this, geared to attract young people? One college, Ramapo College in NJ (my state), banned this type of energy drink on campus after some of its students also ended up in the hospital after drinking them.

I can’t help getting angry when I hear about controversial products like this because it means that marketers don’t seem to care what they are doing to young people. (Of course the companies resent being criticized.) I was glad to read that Attorneys General have investigated some of the companies that produce these drinks, questioning their marketing tactics.

This is from a syndicated 2009 Chicago Tribune article:  

“Attorneys general from up to 25 states scored a victory in December against caffed-up, high-alcohol brews when MillerCoors, under pressure from the officials, agreed to suck the stimulants out of its Sparks beverage, the market leader. Anheuser-Busch also agreed to do the same with its Tilt and Bud Extra brews.”

Just this weekend Michigan became the first state to ban the sale of Four Loko.  According to several publications, 18 attorneys general have urged the FDA to determine whether Four Loko is safe.  

I’m keeping my fingers crossed about the outcome.