Missouri Lawmakers Seek to Outlaw More Synthetic Drugs UPDATED: Risky Business Snorting Bath Salts to Get Cocaine-Like High, "Ivory Wave," "Bliss," "Vanilla Sky"

_______________________________________________________________________________
UPDATED: Feb 24m 2011

Missouri lawmakers propose outlawing more synthetic drugs

BY The Associated Press

JEFFERSON CITY — Missouri lawmakers are poised to make another run at outlawing some synthetic drugs.
Missouri was among more than a dozen states last year that banned a synthetic form of marijuana known as K2, which is a combination of dried herbs sprayed with chemicals. Before the law even took effect, alternatives were hitting the market that had made slight changes to the synthetic formula; these alternatives got around the new law.
Republican Rep. Ward Franz of West Plains is sponsoring legislation this year that would add more synthetic cannabinoids to the outlawed list. The bill also would outlaw a synthetic form of cocaine that is being sold as a bath salt in some Missouri stores.

___________________________________________________________________________________

More people snorting bath salts to get cocaine-like high

___________________________________________________________________________________
 Wednesday, January 19, 2011
BY BLYTHE BERNHARD  www.STLtoday.com


In their search for new and legal ways to get high, people are increasingly ingesting an addictive substance sold in stores as bath salts, say police and health officials. So far this month, the Missouri Poison Center at Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center has received 12 calls about teenagers and young adults abusing the chemicals, compared with eight calls for all of 2010. The powders sold as "Ivory Snow," "Bliss," "Vanilla Sky" and other brand names are not common bath salts and contain the ingredients MDPV or mephedrone, stimulants that can cause rapid heart rates, seizures and hallucinations.
Truck stops, tattoo parlors and tobacco shops sell the substances in 50-milligram packets for $25 to $50 each, according to an alert issued last month by the U.S. Department of Justice.
The powders described as "fake cocaine" have appeared in the last year in stores that previously sold the now-illegal synthetic marijuana products known as K2 and Spice, law enforcement officials said.
With the new drugs, "the highs are so high and the lows are so low" that they contributed to the October suicide of a 29-year-old St. Joseph man, Connors said.
Since the man's death, Connors' department has been working with Missouri legislators to seek a ban with more generic wording for artificial stimulants.
The packets are often labeled "not for consumption," a loophole that allows manufacturers to evade scrutiny from food and drug officials.
. Click Here to Read More.

____________________________________________________________________________________

.

.
____________________________________________________________________________________

Reciprocal links:
http://HermannHearsay.blogspot.com/(Hermann Area News, Commentary & Discussion)