Bath Salts Revisited

The knowledge of artificial bath salts is working its way across the country although I am not sure how far it has spread. The compound, with a very long chemical name formally is shortened to the name MDPV. There are other similar designer drugs that have appearing on the scene fast enough that governmental control has been unable to keep up with their emergence. MDPV is new to the United States but had been around for a few years in Europe. Another similar compound, mephedrone has been blamed for significant loss of life in England. Some states in the US have already banned MDPV and others are considering bans. Considering the significant effects it has had on communities in Pennsylvania, it is likely it will soon be banned here. A measure to ban it has already passed the State Senate, and is pending in the House.

A recent incident that illustrates it's potential dangers occurred a few days ago. The police were dispatched to a call on a domestic disturbance where a man was tearing the wiring out of the walls of a woman's home. Upon attempting to subdue the man, he became combative, was tazed twice and still put up a fight, tearing the pocket off one officer's uniform. In the end, several police officers were injured. The man had been shooting up bath salts. He is facing numerous charges at this point. He is one of the lucky ones who lived through an overdose of MDPV but many have died. These cases of PCP like strength are not unusual. We frequently see patients showing up in the ED acting like this that we strongly suspect are using bath salts. The problem is, we cannot prove it and even if we could, there is nothing that can be done to stop it. As of a few weeks ago, 22 admissions to this hospital were estimated to be caused by complications of bath salts and those were only estimates. I know of three admissions this week to psychiatry alone that we are fairly certain were motivated by bath salt induced behaviors. That kind of number rivals alcohol and outnumbers opiates on an average week.

One of the most recent stimulant compounds to be banned in the US was ephedra. Popping ephedra in the past was a bad idea and there were people who died from complications from it. Cases of psychosis or heart problems did occur, but nothing to the extent that this, substance has caused and the highly addictive nature of it makes it an even greater danger. MDPV is a far greater threat, producing a high compared to cocaine and Ecstasy and similar to Ecstasy in structure.

For those that advocate legalizing drugs as it is a "victimless" crime, I hope they stop to see the thousands of dollars of property damage a bath salt user on a binge can cause. I hope they stop to talk to the parents whose only child just died of an overdose of what they thought was a "safe" high since it was legal, after all. I hope they see the people who are involuntarily committed to psychiatric units and forever have their records marred by the commitment because they were floridly psychotic from excessive bath salt use. And I hope they see the medical and law enforcement workers that are injured trying to restrain a violent and irrational user on a wild binge. I see lots of victims here.

I hope that Sen Charles Schumer pushes ahead with his drive to ban MDPV as even though there are multiple agencies that must be involved before a national ban can happen, the sooner it happens, the better. Which will not be soon enough.

Random Thoughts

There are always times when I have neither the time nor the inspiration to think of anything worthwhile to say. I have hit one of those impasses and have chosen to fill the slot with some of those random ideas and musings that one encounters that warrant being documented for history's sake but are not that lengthy enough for a whole post. Some of those follow.

If you ever really want to annoy a guy named Doug, go up to him and ask him why he does not spell his name Dug rather than Doug. The same goes for Phil and Fill.

If you look at this really closely, you can see a tiny Ben Roethlissberger chasing a terrified woman in this.

If you can tip a stripper with cash by sticking a dollar into his/her thong, why can you not install a card reader in his/her butt cheeks so you can swipe a credit card and give a tip this way?

This is just wrong. This is a Volkswagen Beetle- with a dragon painted on the side! VW Beetles have bud vases standard! Not marijuana buds you smart asses- flower buds! The very same Beetle had an Ed Hardy steering wheel cover with bulldogs with fangs showing and spiked dog collars. VW Bugs are available with such options as flower covers for the rear tail lights. These cars are not intended for such violent images. If you really look closely, you will notice that the VW symbol on the rear wheel cover is missing. This is nothing short of blasphemy for VW fans. VW bugs have always had all of their VW symbols in the hub caps. ALL of them. Not SOME of them, ALL of them. VW bugs are about peace and love and happiness and this bug has images of anger and violence and is just WRONG. I am going to have to kick some major ass over this one. This REALLY PISSES me off!

This is a Dodge Viper RT/10. It is the finest piece of street legal automotive engineering the Americans have ever mass produced. There is nothing funny or obnoxious about this car with the exception that is not MY Viper. (For those of you who would argue that the Shelby Cobra a better specimen of American engineering, I would remind you that the true name of the Shelby Cobra is the AC Cobra and is not, in fact, 100% American. It is, in fact a Ford motor on an AC {ie British} chassis.)

Why is the local news I am currently watching about to show a news story about a new gas station opening? Even a real ugly mullet sighting would be more newsworthy. No, I am not making this up. They once covered a Wendy's opening, too.

Look, twins!

OH MY GOD!, the new gas station story just played! You can get a FREE COFFEE OR CAPPUCCINO just for stopping in! No wonder they covered it on the evening news! I feel so much better now.