Bath Salts
Bath Salts
Since synthetic drugs have become a common theme in the news I wanted to look more into “bath salts” otherwise known as synthetic cathinones. The questions I was pondering were: what exactly do these “bath salts” do, how is this latest development in drug abuse affecting the brain and how can you treat someone on these dangerous chemicals? I used Google Scholar to research my topic. http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=Minnesota+Bath+Salts&btnG=&as_sdt=1%2C24&as_sdtp= I chose “bath salts” due to their recent surfacing in the drug world. Right around the time I got sober (September 2011) I started hearing about “bath salts” and even encountered some at the music venue, First Avenue. Although I was intrigued I did not experiment with the chemical presented to me at the time. I did however have the opportunity to be around some people that did ingest synthetic MDMA (methylenedioxpyrovalerone or MPDV) at a concert. This subject is also very interesting to me because of my interactions with the individuals that experimented with these drugs after a few days and weeks of use. The information Google Scholar provided was pretty varied. My search terms had to be very specific to pull up any valid information to the questions that I had. The search results were everything from citations, news stories, journal articles, research papers to editorials. A lot of the articles that I would find were dead ends in which I’d either need to pay to read the article or subscribe to the publisher’s website. These instances were frustrating as I could not see the research that I just found that would fit my paper perfectly. The list of information provided about bath salts could have one sentence or the entire article about this synthetic drug so there was a wide range of findings. The first example of information from the research I found interesting was the vehicle in which these “bath salt” drugs are being marketed. An article
Since synthetic drugs have become a common theme in the news I wanted to look more into “bath salts” otherwise known as synthetic cathinones. The questions I was pondering were: what exactly do these “bath salts” do, how is this latest development in drug abuse affecting the brain and how can you treat someone on these dangerous chemicals? I used Google Scholar to research my topic. http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=Minnesota+Bath+Salts&btnG=&as_sdt=1%2C24&as_sdtp= I chose “bath salts” due to their recent surfacing in the drug world. Right around the time I got sober (September 2011) I started hearing about “bath salts” and even encountered some at the music venue, First Avenue. Although I was intrigued I did not experiment with the chemical presented to me at the time. I did however have the opportunity to be around some people that did ingest synthetic MDMA (methylenedioxpyrovalerone or MPDV) at a concert. This subject is also very interesting to me because of my interactions with the individuals that experimented with these drugs after a few days and weeks of use. The information Google Scholar provided was pretty varied. My search terms had to be very specific to pull up any valid information to the questions that I had. The search results were everything from citations, news stories, journal articles, research papers to editorials. A lot of the articles that I would find were dead ends in which I’d either need to pay to read the article or subscribe to the publisher’s website. These instances were frustrating as I could not see the research that I just found that would fit my paper perfectly. The list of information provided about bath salts could have one sentence or the entire article about this synthetic drug so there was a wide range of findings. The first example of information from the research I found interesting was the vehicle in which these “bath salt” drugs are being marketed. An article
References: Falkowski, Carol L. (2011, June) Drug Abuse Trends in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota: June 2011. Proceedings of the Community Epidemiology Work Group, June 2011, p.192-210. Falkowski, Carol L. (2012, January) Drug Abuse Trends in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota: January 2012 update. Retrieved March 17, 2013, from http://www.dhs.state.mn.us/main/groups/disabilities/documents/pub/dhs16_147922.pdf Falkowski, Carol (October 2011) Illegal Drug Impersonators: The Synthetic Drug Abuse Boom. Minnesota Medicine, 94(10), pp 52-54. Marder, Jenny (2012, September 20) The Drug that Never Lets Go. Retrieved on March 21, 2013 from www.pbs.org/newshour/multimedia/bath-salts/ Penders, Thomas (2012, May) Synthetic Cannabinoids and “Bath Salts” Should Be Considered Drugs of Abuse. American Family Physician, 85(9): 852. Perrone, Matthew (2012, July 25) ‘Bath salts’ ban: Many drugs remain legal. Retrieved on March 20, 2013 from http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2012/07/25/bath-salts-ban-many-drugs-remain-legal