Bath Salts in Buy a Ticket, Take a Ride

Bath Salts that are actually psychoactive are not sold at Bath and Body Works. Sometimes, you see people buying household products and attempting to get high off of them. This is not the case with Bath Salts; Bath salts are not an abuse of household products. If you are looking to buy drugs sold as Bath Salts from the street, I don't know how much useful information a buyer gets from their dealer. The problem with drug euphemisms is that we do not know for sure where expectations originate. For all I know, dealers are actually telling buyers to put Bath Salts in their bubble bath.

You asked me about the dangers of Bath Salts. Obviously, buyers of Bath Salts are probably not interested in bubble baths. If you've ever bought a bong for "tobacco use only", you know a bit about drug euphemisms. "Bath salts" is such a euphemism. I am bringing up the danger posed to consumers by the existence of "Bath Salts" as a euphemism for drugs.

The reason why Bath Salts is a more dangerous euphemism than "for tobacco use only" is because it could lead to the abuse of household products. Although the euphemism is a lie, tobacco has enough in common with marijuana, they are both smoked. If a bottle from Bath and Body Works is labeled "not intended for human consumption," it is probably not a lie, but in the case of drugs sold as Bath Salts, "not intended for human consumption" is a lie. But because these lies exist, some dumb person could potentially be influenced to purchase and snort household products like Vanilla Verbena Stress Relieving Bath Soak. Snorting Vanilla Verbena could actually be more dangerous than snorting drugs, because drugs are meant for human consumption and bath salts are not.

However, Bath and Body Works sells Vanilla Verbena as "aromatherapy". Unlike some other kinds of therapies, Bath and Body Works product advertising is not exactly under scientific scrutiny when they describe the benefits of aromatherapy on one's mood, so they are quick to tout the stress-relieving properties of their product. Used in a different context, such as on the street, advertisements for products like Vanilla Verbena become a creative platform for non-implicating descriptions of mood-altering drugs. Aromatherapy and bath salts are insulfated, that is, snorted. If you read the advertisement, you might imagine the potential for doublespeak:

"soothing effect on body and mind, formulated to provide comfort when you need it the most, unique blend to provide nourishing stress relief. Breathe deeply for best results."

I would not buy Bath Salts. <big>No one, never ever ever, should support someone selling lies that confuse smelling vanilla fragrances and snorting speed.</big> It's like using candy as a euphemism for drugs, lies confuse children and other vulnerable people, so they get hurt.

Judging from the expectations of people on the internet, if I wanted the Bath Salt experience I'd purchase a research chemical called Methylenedioxypyrovalerone, MDPV. Looking at reports from people on MDPV before the media circus, it is praised by people who have ADHD and their parasites/friends who don't have ADHD but like "study drugs". As a study drug MDPV doesn't seem particularly novel.

(Most research stimulants I have my eye on have psychedelic properties, therefore less targeted as study drugs by ADHD and Friends.)

In retrospect, it seems like there might be some indication in these reports that MDPV may be a difficult substance. Like many research chemicals, it is potent and dose dependent. I would conclude MDPV is mostly just a new spin on the same old shit, however, MDPV seems like it could be less user friendly. Any potential for something drastically new, other than what we have already seen from people reacting poorly to stimulants, would have to be at very high doses that these people reporting have backed away from. These reporters might seem like they have a sense of moderation, but they really don't. This chemical is potentially addictive, but compared to something like cocaine, the MDPV's addictive process is often undermined somehow. If MDPV was not priced competitively, speed freaks would probably prefer something more predictable.

If you remember what I wrote about trying a completely different research chemical called MXE, the MDPV information situation is similar. The amount of good information on MDPV is almost non-existent. MXE is a close relative of Ketamine, so to extrapolate a risk of using MXE I look to Ketamine. When it comes to MDPV, its closest relative appears to be Methylphenidate. That's Ritalin. But just because it is similar to Ritalin doesn't mean that its potential for harm is limited to that of Ritalin, especially since we are talking about stimulants. The only thing we can know for sure is that it is probably at least as dangerous as Ritalin.

The similarities between MXE and MDPV are going to be superficial, but as research chemicals, they have a few things in common that could grant meaningful insights from my experience on MXE: they are both very potent and dose dependent.

From my MXE experience, a description of dose dependency: Lower doses are mostly alcoholic, higher doses are balls-to-the-walls tripping. MXE is a drug capable of intimidating many other drugs. At a low dose, the dominant mood-altering effect is a margin more surreal than alcohol, but seems to offer everything alcohol does. At this level, one wouldn't stand out among alcohol drinkers. At moderate doses it gradually takes on more marijuana-like characteristics over time and it feels like a strong buzz from combining alcohol and marijuana. At this point, you might be spacey, and one might guess you were smoking weed. At higher doses, especially by rectum where it is metabolized quickly, it starts taking on the reality-altering characteristics of marijuana combined with LSD. There is no concealing this state easily. Ultimately, it can put you in a totally dominating psychedelic dream called a "hole".

It is important to know that MXE is a psychedelic and very different from stimulants of the type that are closely related to Ritalin. The nature of MDPV's effects would be totally different, but maybe its potential range of speed-related experiences are similarly broad. It must be very difficult to dose MDPV, and anecdotes describe this in more detail. Internet drug people can reliably reproduce doses that make MDPV a good replacement for pharmaceutical stimulants, but if they try to get high from large doses they run into trouble finding and reproducing something they like.

Some are able to establish a good relationship with the MDPV high after experimentation, but it seems like even people of experience with drug-induced anxiety can still be intimidated by this drug at high doses. Many who like the euphoric high of stimulants prefer to stick to snorting cocaine or even Ritalin. (all speed seems to be more euphoric when snorted, with some exceptions, like Vyvanse) But complete street freaks don't weigh their options like that, they just buy the cheapest shit they can find. It is not legal in the US right now, but it was recently, so MDPV is still cheap. If it is inexpensive to manufacture it will stay cheap.

Difficult substances are not bad substances, but some people will not be able to use difficult substances without help. I do not think any drug needs to be completely illegal, although I can conceive that drug control could be helpful if it controls quality and packaging. Black and grey market drugs are never packaged well. A time-release capsule is especially valuable for potent stimulants because your addictive mechanism is irritated by spikes in delivery. This is why I like Vyvanse more than its alternatives, and when it comes to speed, this has made a real difference as to whether I can tolerate the side effects or not. I would be hard to go back to Adderall. I wish I could distribute illegal stimulants in time release capsules to speed freaks.

By the way, the famous Bath Salt cannabalist was not on Bath Salts after all.

Last updated January 30, 2014