Government officials are warning of possible health risks associated with another product sold in some so-called head shops: bath salts.
Synthetic stimulants are being sold at such shops nationwide as crystallized or powdered bath salts, and health officials are taking a closer look at the risks.
The Drug Enforcement Administration, which in late November announced an intent to ban the synthetic marijuana found in some head shops, considers the bath salts' stimulants, mephedrone and methylenedioxypyrovalerone, to be drugs of concern.
The agency is looking into whether the drugs should be controlled substances, spokesman Rusty Payne said. Florida and Louisiana have banned them, and other states are considering doing so.
Kirk Hughes of the Minnesota Poison Control System emphasized they're not the same as aromatic bath salts sold at such stores as Target and Walmart.
The most common way to get the salts is online, he said. Ivory Wave and Vanilla Sky are the two most popular brands in Minnesota. The stimulants also are sold as plant food, "which is total B.S.," Payne said.
Users eat, smoke, inhale or inject the salts, Hughes said. Just as products such as K2 and Spice "incense" were marketed as legal alternatives to marijuana, certain bath salts now are perceived as legal alternatives to cocaine, LSD and methamphetamine, Payne said.
Since November, state poison control officials have received five calls from health care professionals treating users. They were from 20 to 43 years old and experienced effects ranging from an increased heart rate and blood pressure to nausea, vomiting, confusion, agitation and hallucinations, Hughes said. None was seriously injured.
