DEA Bans ‘Bath Salts,’ Still Available In Colo. For Now
It’s a dangerous and even deadly legal drug that Target 13 Investigates has warned you about before. “Bath salts” are easily available in Southern Colorado, but that’s about to change.
On Wednesday, the Drug Enforcement Administration called for an emergency ban on the chemicals in the substance, calling them an “imminent hazard” to the public.
Baths salts go by names including Bliss, White Lightning and Ivory Wave and are on sale in Colorado Springs for $25-$50. Side effects of getting high on the powder include rapid heart rate, hallucinations and suicidal thoughts. Across the country, deaths linked to the substance continue to mount.
“It mimics both cocaine and amphetamines, getting side effects both drugs would have,” said Dr. John Torres, of Premier Urgent Care. “It turns out it’s very dangerous and very available.”
The DEA said its emergency ban will take effect in about a month. It will last for a year, but could be permanent after more studies are done.
?This imminent action by the DEA demonstrates that there is no tolerance for those who manufacture, distribute, or sell these drugs anywhere in the country, and that those who do will be shut down, arrested, and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,? said DEA Administrator Michele M. Leonhart in a statement.
The manager at Freaky’s in Colorado Springs tells us the store will stop selling bath salts after the ban takes effect. He said he hadn’t heard about the announcement by the DEA on Wednesday.
Thirty-three states already have a measure in place to control the substance. Colorado is not one of them.
