Using the designer drugs known as “bath salts” is like
playing Russian roulette with your brain, according to an expert at the
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Michael H. Baumann, PhD,
Chief of the Designer Drug Research Unit at NIDA’s Intramural Research
Program, recently published a study that explains how bath salts cause
dangerous effects in the brain.
“People using bath salts can’t be sure about what psychoactive
chemicals are present in them, and studies have shown that ingredients
on the label often are not present in the products,” he says.
The active ingredients in bath salts that have been identified thus
far are structurally similar to cathinone, which is a naturally
occurring stimulant found in the khat plant, explains Dr. Baumann. In a
rodent study recently published in the journal
Neuropsychopharmacology,
he and his colleagues reported that synthetic cathinones disrupt the
transport of the brain chemical dopamine, thereby causing large spikes
in the amount of dopamine outside of nerve cells. Dopamine is implicated
in the pleasurable effects of drugs, as well as their potential for
abuse. “When a drug causes increases in dopamine, people will want to
take that drug repeatedly,” he says. The study found a bath salt
ingredient, MDPV, is 10 to 50 times more potent than cocaine in its
ability to increase dopamine in the brain.
Emergency rooms around the country have reported cases of people
taking bath salts who become psychotic, violent and delirious. These
patients also may have a very high body temperature. Some people have
died from bath salts use.
Data from the
American Association of Poison Control Centers
indicate that calls due to bath salts dropped from January to November
2012, though Dr. Baumann notes the data for the year are not yet
complete. “If it is indeed the case that bath salts calls are declining,
perhaps it is because of all the publicity about these substances being
quite dangerous,” he says.
Michael H. Baumann, PhD
Dr. Baumann also notes government action may be playing an important
role in the decrease in bath salts calls. In the fall of 2011, the Drug
Enforcement Administration
announced a temporary ban
on three synthetic stimulants sold as bath salts—mephedrone, methylone
and MDPV. The ban made it illegal to possess and sell these chemicals or
the products that contain them. In July 2012, President Obama
signed legislation that permanently bans a number of synthetic drugs including mephedrone and MDPV.
A troubling trend is the availability of newer, similar compounds
that chemists are devising to replace the banned substances, Dr. Baumann
observes. “This cat-and-mouse game is likely to continue,” he says. It
is possible some of these newer compounds may no longer be called bath
salts, and are thus not showing up in the poison control data.
Much is still not known about bath salts, such as how they interact
with alcohol and other illicit drugs. Scientists also don’t know what
happens when several different cathinone products are mixed, or the
long-term effect of bath salts use.
“Bath salts are dangerous,” Dr. Baumann says. “We don’t know a lot
about how they affect the body, and there is no quality control in their
manufacture or packaging. There’s just no way of knowing what
byproducts or toxic impurities are in these products.”
For the latest information about bath salts, visit the
NIDA website.
