Synthetic Drug Use Is On the Rise But Difficult to Track

Synthetic drugs, manufactured to emulate marijuana, cocaine and other designer drugs, are growing in popularity despite the fact that they are illegal in most states and pose many of the same dangers as their non-synthetic counterparts. At the same time, constant changes in their chemical formulation, make them challenging for forensic toxicologists to identify when police are called upon to find a cause of death.

Bath salts are no longer legally sold in stores in most states, but they are still available over the Internet, highlights a recent online article. They are advertised as bath additives, but even a cursory reading of the directions makes it plain that this is only a cover for illicit drug use. Bath salts are sold under a variety of names like: Vanilla Sky, Ivory Wave, Bliss or Purple Wave. Young people who purchase these drugs may think that since they are synthetic they are somehow safer, but that just isn’t true. These drugs can cause the same delusions, hallucinations and paranoia as the substances they are intended to mimic.

The drugs are often manufactured overseas where producers continually make minor changes to their chemical formulation in an effort to avoid criminal prosecution. This has meant that the toxicologists have had to come up with a combination of tests in order to identify them once they are nothing more than metabolized compounds in the body. The laws too, have been re-written in order to accommodate the frequent chemical alterations.

At present there are no studies which can predict what long-term use of these synthetic drugs will do, but it is safe to guess that just as their short-term effect mirrors the original, the long-term effects may as well. That means these drugs can be expected to result in young people developing psychoses, cardiovascular disease and various breakdowns within the nervous system.