Spice, Bath Salts – dangerous to your health, career Published June 27, 2012 By Staff Sgt. Brandon Blunt 71st Flying Training Wing Legal Office VANCE AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- Two very dangerous drugs on the market today are becoming more and more popular among individuals looking for a high. Spice and Bath Salts are the new drugs of choice abused by Airmen. Although these drugs are sold at convenience stores and smoke shops, they are not legal. Spice attempts to mimic the effects of marijuana but use of the drug can be more dangerous than LSD, cocaine and even methamphetamine. Spice is significantly more dangerous because the chemicals are five to 200 times more potent and the packages do not identify either the chemical compound or the concentration of chemical components, which vary considerably. Spice can cause delusional psychotic breakdowns, auditory and visual hallucinations, paranoid delusions, thought blocking, disorganized speech and behavior, suicidal ideation, insomnia, psychomotor retardation, psychomotor agitation and anxiety, among other various effects. Bath Salts are a new synthetic stimulate. These products, labeled "Not for human consumption," might be sold in gas stations, tobacco shops and elsewhere, but don't actually contain soaps or oils. They are tablets, capsules or tea-bagged sized packages of crystallized powder. According to the Department of Justice, users typically ingest, inhale, inject, smoke or snort the drugs to experience stimulant effects similar to those induced by amphetamine. Some dissolve the drugs in water or other solvents and proceed to atomize and inhale them. Users can also apply the solutions to their mucus membranes by placing drops in their eyes or spraying the solutions in their noses. Bath Salts are usually dangerous and more potent than cocaine, methamphetamine and ecstasy. Doctors report users arriving in emergency rooms who are agitated, violent and psychotic and who are nonresponsive to massive doses of sedatives. Bath Salts have turned up in large amounts over the past year. Poison control centers reported nearly 1,400 calls from January to May of 2012. More than 6,200 calls related to Bath Salts came into poison control centers in 2011, up from slightly more than 300 in 2010. Bath Salts are chemically similar to cathinone, a Schedule I controlled substance that occurs naturally in the khat plant. Some versions of Bath Salts contain federally controlled substances, while others are chemically similar but not on the controlled substance list. In October of 2011, the Drug Enforcement Administration exercised its emergency scheduling authority to control three of the synthetic stimulants used in Bath Salts. In addition to being marketed as "Bath Salts," these drugs are marketed as plant food and fertilizer, insect repellant, pond cleaner, vacuum fresheners and even as Ecstasy. Bath Salts are banned in 38 states and currently Federal legislation to criminalize Bath Salts was passed in the United States Senate and is on its way to the House of Representatives. These drugs are extremely dangerous and cause symptoms of extreme paranoia, extremely high body temperature, vivid hallucinations and hostility or aggression. Almost all the cases involving these drugs are extremely violent. The following are some cases reported from around the country: In Miami a 31-year-old man attacked a 65-year-old homeless man, stripped off all his clothes, dived on top of him and started chewing off his face. Reports from onlookers characterized him as a "zombie," behaving as if he were under the control of some evil or demonic possession. In California two 15-year-old boys fell violently ill and developed small holes in their lungs after consuming mephedrone, which they thought was MDMA, an entactogenic drug of the phenethylamine and amphetamine classes. The drug was sold to them by a student at a nearby college. In Colorado a drug called Alpha-PVP, a type of Bath Salts, led to a young man's death by strangulation when friends tried to restrain him during a violent fit. In Washington investigators believe that a double murder-suicide in which a man killed his wife and five-year-old son, then shot himself, was the result of using Bath Salts. In Louisiana a 21-year-old man slit his throat in front of his family after he snorted Bath Salts, because he believed police were after him. In Pennsylvania police arrested a couple high on Bath Salts who had nearly cut their 5-year-old daughter with a knife they were using to stab the "90 people" they believed were "living in the walls" of their apartment. In Kentucky an off-duty prison guard, reportedly high on Bath Salts, was cited for 10 different acts of violence in two different towns. The guard ultimately had to be subdued with a stun gun. In West Virginia a man high on Bath Salts was found wandering the woods in lingerie after he allegedly stabbed a goat. In Indiana a man committed suicide after telling his family for weeks that the FBI were following him and watching him eat. In Ohio a young man was fatally shot after he held a knife to his girlfriend's neck. Police around the country say they're seeing a spike in domestic violence and assault cases connected with Bath Salts. Spice and Bath Salts are two very dangerous drugs that are gaining in popularity, not only in the civilian world, but in the military as well. Courts-martial and non-judicial punishment actions for abusing Spice and Bath Salts are on the rise. The Air Force is engaged in the fight of maintaining good order and discipline. Article 112a of the Uniform Code of Military Justice allows for the prosecution of the wrongful use or possession of any controlled substance that is on the schedule of controlled substance list. A number of the chemicals used in the production of Spice and Bath Salts are on the controlled substance list. Military members are prohibited from using any substance to alter their mood or function. Air Force Instruction 44-120, "Drug Abuse Testing Program," paragraph 1.1.6 states, "In order to ensure military readiness; safeguard the health and wellness of the force; and maintain good order and discipline in the service, the knowing use of any intoxicating substance, other than the lawful use of alcohol or tobacco products, that is inhaled, injected, consumed, or introduced into the body in any manner to alter mood or function is prohibited." This AFI can be enforced through Article 92 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.