The Alachua County Sheriff’s Office is cracking down on the sale of a bath salt that has been commonly misused as a drug, leading some to compare its effects to those associated with crystal methamphetamine.
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi passed an emergency measure banning the sale of bath salts containing the drug methylenedioxypyrovalerone, according to a press release issued by the ASO.
The salts are crushed and snorted by users and are known to cause increased heart rate, anxiety fits, delusions and nosebleeds. They also can cause more serious side effects such as muscle spasms, kidney failure, seizures, hallucinations, loss of bowel control, severe paranoia and death.
“The way these were marketed was as a regular bath salt, but the wink-wink usage was to be snorted,” said ASO spokesman Sgt. Todd Kelly. “The danger is the reaction people have when they ingest these things is potentially life-threatening.”
The drugs, which the release said are often sold in specialty smoke shops over the Internet and in convenience stores, are sold in 220 mg, 250 mg and 500 mg packages.
The drug is significantly more expensive than the average bath salt — a half-gram package of “Bolivian Bath” costs about $40.
Shops selling the salts have a two-week grace period to return the bath salts to the manufacturer or destroy them. After the deadline, shop owners can be charged with a third-degree felony.
The ban will last for 90 days, Kelly said, and the Florida legislature will begin working to make it permanent.
