Bath Salts - the new drug problem

[Skunkle]

As for "legal highs", there's a company called International Oddities that sells what they call "legal bud". I found out about this from a friend who uses marijuana for chronic pain; he bought six boxes of this product from a smoke shop. All of them have "breed names" that are supposed to sound vaguely like well-known breeds of weed; the one I took to look at is called "Blueberry". I don't go for highs from any substance; I smoke pipe tobacco and cigars, but I found this product interesting somehow, so he let me take some home. I ran it by three people I know. The first, a legal medical pot dealer, simply said it smelled disgusting and he had no idea what it was, only that it of course wasn't marijuana. The other two are self-professed weed connoisseurs, and both of them told me they believe it's actually...catnip. I found several online "reviews" that are obviously nothing more than faux 'testimonials' written by the company, and two reviewers who said the stuff was absolutely horrible. I'm just gonna put it on my shelf as a curiosity; it's a clear plastic tube filled with dried plant matter with a very wild-looking label proclaiming "LEGAL BUDS!!"

Yes, I think a legal way to get a high might be a good idea, but there will always be both people who chase illegal highs, products available for these people, and people who, even using legal products, would abuse them to the point of endangering others.

The bath salts thing isn't the first and won't be the last idea of its kind.

[Peppergirl]

Just one thing:

Many times, at least ONE component to many people doing hard drugs is out of a sense of rebellion.

Thus, I'm not quite sure how attempting to make it 'safe' or in any way legalize it would be an effective option.

I don't want to get into a lot detail here, but suffice it to say that I know much of this from personal experience. People who use hard core drugs on any sort of regular basis are NOT rational. Like someone earlier in the thread said, they want to get their shit and go party with their friends and do it *their* way.

[wolfie]

What the hell is wrong with people? My Mom LOVES using bath salts. They help remove rough skin as well as like Epsom salts ease her poor joints. Just because they smell nice is a added bonus.

Whats next...people are going to start snorting bananas and they are going to ban those?

Not snorting - smoking. They call it mellow yellow.

[Racket_Man]

Not snorting - smoking. They call it mellow yellow.

I thought that banana peel crap died a silent death in the late 70's. I do remember that stuff floating around during my teenage years (not that I did anything like that). all I heard was it gave you a bad headache

[Skunkle]

I had a teacher in high school who used to be a hippie. Said teacher and I discussed a lot of 60s stuff. She tried the banana thing... Scraped the 'strings' off the inside of the peels, baked them, ground them into a brown powder and smoked it. She claims it did absolutely nothing, not even a placebo high.

Then there was the 50s or 60s media frenzy over people huffing model airplane glue. Like many media frenzies, it was heavily trumped-up... but I believe it touched off a small wave of people trying it who'd never heard of it before. There was also a wave in the 90s of people snorting cremated human ashes - I kid you not. That didn't go far, but it showed that some people will try just about anything if it's said to get you high.

Another rumor in the late 90s: Lava lamps. They were a hippie icon, and yet they were marketed to "squares" by the manufacturer, and didn't take off in head shops until the early 70s. Why? Well, maybe the hippies knew something we've forgotten. What if... drinking the liquid inside gets you high...? Naturally, that didn't last, either. The liquid in a lava lamp is water and propylene glycol. The most it'll do is give you severe nausea for a few days.

[Racket_Man]

touched off a small wave of people trying it who'd never heard of it before. There was also a wave in the 90s of people snorting cremated human ashes - I kid you not. That didn't go far, but it showed that some people will try just about anything if it's said to get you high.

.

something similar happened back in (I believe the late 1800's) with people thinking that ingesting gound up mummies (as in Egyptian) either in liquid or podwer form was something to do for better health.