Bath salts: the cannibal drug spreads in the West and with it its terrible effects among consumers.
When in 2012, 31-year-old Rudy Eugene was gunned down for rioting the streets of Miami naked, attacking a vagabond and tearing off 75% of his face, a drug caught the attention of the American media due To the terrible nature of the crime.
The news brought to light a hallucinogen known as "bath salts" and which has come to be called cannibal drug. Although often described as the "new LSD", bath salts do not actually have much in common with the hallucinogen that became popular from the 1960s. Both drugs are synthetic drugs, but the similarities do not make reference To the main effects of the drug.
The active component of the cannibal drug
While the main effect of LSD is to create hallucinations and visual distortions in the perception of time and space, depending on the dose used, "bath salts" are, in fact, a chemical similar to amphetamine, by containing methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV), mephedrone and pyrovalerone. This change in its composition, of course, makes its fit in the human nervous system have different consequences, since the repercussions it has on the way in which our neurons capture and emit neurotransmitters are different, as happens when They provide legal psychotropic drugs.
The Effects of Bath Salts
Bath salts can be smoked, inhaled or injected. Hallucinations can be a side effect, but the main effects are similar to those of other stimulants, such as cocaine, crystal or methamphetamine. The main psychoactive effects include increased alertness, euphoria, agitation, high blood pressure and increased heart rate.
Consumers coincide in describing an enormous force, an inhibition of pain and extreme internal heat that causes them to undress. But those are only the least damaging effects, since severe effects such as aggressiveness, paranoia, psychosis, depression, suicidal thoughts and even death have been reported on many occasions. Hence, several people have turned this substance into something that is known as "cannibal drug": its consumption makes one lose sight of a stable vision of reality, and confusion, added to the aggressiveness induced from the effects of The substance in zones of the limbic system, can lead to commit brutal agressions....
Although this substance is known as bath salts, it has nothing in common with those used by people to relax in the bathtub. In the drug market, bath salts are also known with other names such as red pigeon, purple, lunar wave, pure ivory, cannibal drug, ivory wave, vanilla sky, blessing or white lightning.
A drug that spreads because of several factors
The cannibal drug is relatively cheap and can be found in the market for 20 dollars (15 euros). Bath salts have been linked to an alarming increase in the number of emergency room visits throughout the United States.
Patients with the syndrome known as "excited delirium" after consuming bath salts may also suffer from dehydration, impaired muscle tissue and kidney failure. But the most alarming is the extreme aggressiveness that consumers present, which has been compared to cannibal acts because of their brutality.
Early results indicate that this synthetic substance has a high potential for abuse and addiction. Consumers of bath salts have reported that the drug triggers intense cravings (or a compulsive need to consume the drug again) and that it is highly addictive. Frequent use may result in tolerance, dependence, and severe withdrawal symptoms if the cannabis drug is stopped suddenly.