Florida's 'Bath Salt' Ban, Law Not Enough

The push is on to alert Floridians about the dangers of "bath salts" as the emergency ban on the sale of such compounds -- known by such names as "Ivory Wave," "Vanilla Sky," "White Rush" and "Pure Ivory" -- nears its six-month anniversary.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office followed the Jan. 26 ban, issued by Attorney General Pam Bondi's office, with visits to businesses selling the so-called "bath salts" to alert them to the dangers.

And Governor Rick Scott in May, as noted in a CBS Miami report, signed House Bill 1039, which makes possession of "bath salts" a third-degree felony.

Still, according to a New Tampa Patch report, experts contend that companies that manufacture the drug will find ways to get around the law, if by no other means than hawking them over the Internet.

Unfortunately, that is already true, Dr. Cynthia Lewis-Younger, managing director of the Poison Control Center in Tampa, told the New Tampa Patch. She noted that since the ban was put into effect, the majority of the 106 reported cases to all three of Florida’s poison control centers occurred after that date. Six of them occurred in Hillsborough County.

Also known on the street as “fake cocaine,” the synthetic drug is a far cry from the compounds meant for your bath. Experts say that to skirt U.S. Food and Drug Administration guidelines, manufacturers will attach a label saying the compounds are not for human consumption.

According to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, "the compounds are currently being marketed under a number of names such as Ivory Wave, Vanilla Sky, White Rush, and Pure Ivory and are usually snorted but also smoked or swallowed. They are stimulants that affect neurotransmitters in the brain and cause a sensation to the user similar to cocaine. The product is known to produce serious side effects."

National Public Radio in February reported on Florida's ban of "cocaine-like 'bath salts' sold in stores," and led its accounting with the acknowledgment that "across the country packets of white power with names like Vanilla Sky, Ivory Wave and White Rush are being sold in convenience stores and gas stations."

Labeled and packaged as "bath salts," the report continues, "they are actually a drug that produces a meth-like high and sometimes violent behavior in users."

For more on this issue, read the New Tampa Patch report, which explores these side effects in greater detail and reports on the case of Jarious McGhee, 23, Tampa’s latest resident to reportedly die from ingesting bath salts. The report talks, too, about the need for parents to remain ever vigilant in keeping their kids away from the dangers of "bath salts."