'Bath Salts' Drug Gets Snorted, Banned in Fla.

Man, kids will get high on anything. Take the new "bath salts" drug.

Florida recently banned bath salts containing MDVP, which authorities say mimics PCP when snorted. It goes by cool names, like Vanilla Sky, Ivory Wave, Oceaon Burst and Bolivian Bath. Telling you this makes me feel like C. Everett Koop.

MDVP, the bath salts drug, can currently be found from a number of online retainers, as well as at malls, gas stations, head shops and bodegas. But perhaps not for long.

Pam Bondi, the Florida Attorney General, issued an emergency rule that now makes the sale, distribution or possession of methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDVP), found in the bath salts drug, a felony offense. The rule is only temporary, and lasts for 90 days, the Times Herald reports. After that, the state would need to pass a formal law banning the intoxicant as a Schedule I drug. That means possession is punishable by up to five years in prison.

"That drug is prevalent now throughout our state," Bondi said. "The problem with it is it's not illegal ... These are dangerous drugs that should not be confused with any type of common bath product." Sheriff Frank McKeithen says that the drug gets people pretty wacky, with some reporting "superhuman strength," massive hallucinations and bizarre behavior.

According to one sheriff, a MDVP bath salt users tore a radar unit out of a police vehicle with his teeth.

The state legislature is currently considering whether they should seek to ban the bath salts drug by itself or seek to ban synthetic pot at the same time.

Related Resources:

• Attorney general bans drugs known as 'bath salts' (PolitiJax)
• Drugs and Narcotics (FindLaw's LawBrain)
• JaMarcus Russell Arrested for 'Purple Drank' Drug (FindLaw's Blotter)