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The Case Against the Ban on ‘Bath Salts’ and Fake Marijuana
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| Contributor | Jason |
| Last Edited | Jason Dec 20, 2011 03:04am |
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| Category | Opinion |
| News Date | Tuesday, December 20, 2011 09:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Recently, the House passed legislation banning the synthetic stimulant drugs sold as “bath salts” or “plant food.” Easily bought online and in convenience stores in packets with labels like Ivory Wave or Blue Silk, the drugs have been associated with multiple hospitalizations and even death.
There has been little scientific study of the true risks of “bath salts,” which typically contain the drugs mephedrone or methylone. But anecdotally, they have been implicated in some scary outcomes. Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.), who sponsored the House bill, which passed 317 to 98 in October, told the Washington Post earlier this month that there have been “horrific stories of individuals high on synthetic drugs.” He gave two examples: one of a Pennsylvania man who stabbed a priest after taking bath salts and another of someone who had jumped out of a window while under the drug’s influence. The DEA has temporarily banned the sale of these products.
The new law — which would also broadly and permanently prohibit the use of synthetic marijuana-related compounds — is intended to protect public health. Certainly, allowing these drugs to continue to be marketed without human testing or FDA approval is senseless. But an outright ban on the compounds may be equally absurd.
As alarming as the anecdotes of bath salt use are, they don’t prove that the drugs caused their users’ strange behaviors or deaths. They also say nothing about whether the substances are dangerous when taken in controlled settings at appropriate doses. But synthetic drugs seem to be in widespread circulation — last year, more than 1 in 10 high school seniors reported having at least tried “fake marijuana,” for example — and government limits threaten research that would begin to attempt to understand their real effects. |
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