Although the law also bans chemically similar versions of some of these drugs, manufacturers have responded by making new drugs different enough from the banned substances to get around the law.
To protect the public, the government is constantly monitoring newer formulas. But they can also cause paranoia, nervousness, and hallucinations seeing or hearing things that are not real.
Researchers do know that bath salts are chemically similar to amphetamines, cocaine, and MDMA. These drugs change the way the brain works by changing the way nerve cells communicate.
Nerve cells, called neurons, send messages to each other by releasing chemicals called neurotransmitters. Drugs affect this signaling process. Dopamine is the main neurotransmitter that relates to the brain's reward system — the system that tells us we feel good.
Circuits in the reward system use dopamine to teach the brain to repeat actions we find pleasurable. Drugs take control of this system, releasing large amounts of dopamine — first in response to the drug but later mainly in response to other cues associated with the drug, like when you see people you use drugs with, or plases where you use drugs.
The result is an intensive motivation to seek the drug. These drugs raise levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin. Learn more about how the brain works and what happens when a person uses drugs. And, check out how the brain responds to natural rewards and to drugs. These reports show people who use bath salts have needed help for heart problems such as racing heart, high blood pressure, and chest pains and symptoms like paranoia, hallucinations, and panic attacks.
They might also have dehydration, breakdown of muscle tissue attached to bones, and kidney failure. Read more about the link between viral infections and drug use. In addition, users of bath salts may be taking other drugs simultaneously. Should bath salts wane in popularity, authorities say they have no doubt new psychoactive designer drugs will take their place.
Clinicians can help prevent the lethal consequences of the next generation of illicit drugs by reporting any cases of drug toxicity to poison centers, advises Ryan. Slomski A. Coronavirus Resource Center. Our website uses cookies to enhance your experience. By continuing to use our site, or clicking "Continue," you are agreeing to our Cookie Policy Continue. Save Preferences. Privacy Policy Terms of Use. Twitter Facebook.
View Correction. This Issue. Views , Citations 4. View Metrics. Anita Slomski. A dangerous drug that lingers. Illegal but easy to find. Synthetic cathinones, more commonly known as bath salts, are human-made stimulants chemically related to cathinone, a substance found in the khat plant.
Khat is a shrub grown in East Africa and southern Arabia, where some people chew its leaves for their mild stimulant effects. Human-made versions of cathinone can be much stronger than the natural product and, in some cases, very dangerous. Synthetic cathinone products marketed as bath salts should not be confused with products such as Epsom salt that people use during bathing. These bathing products have no mind-altering ingredients.
Synthetic cathinones usually take the form of a white or brown crystal-like powder and are sold in small plastic or foil packages labeled "not for human consumption.
Synthetic cathinones are part of a group of drugs that concern public health officials called new psychoactive substances NPS. NPS are unregulated psychoactive mind-altering substances with no legitimate medical use and are made to copy the effects of controlled substances.
They are introduced and reintroduced into the market in quick succession to dodge or hinder law enforcement efforts to address their manufacture and sale. Synthetic cathinones are marketed as cheap substitutes for other stimulants such as amphetamines and cocaine.
Much is still unknown about how synthetic cathinones affect the human brain. Researchers do know that synthetic cathinones are chemically similar to drugs like amphetamines, cocaine, and MDMA. A study found that 3,4-methylenedioxypyrovalerone MDPV , a common synthetic cathinone, affects the brain in a manner similar to cocaine, but is at least 10 times more powerful. MDPV is the most common synthetic cathinone found in the blood and urine of patients admitted to emergency departments after taking bath salts.
Molly—slang for molecular—refers to drugs that are supposed to be the pure crystal powder form of MDMA.
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