Bath salts are from a new family of dangerous designer drugs. These highly addictive stimulant drugs are affordable, and easy to obtain, as they are often openly sold in packaging labeled as “plant fertilizer” or “phone screen cleaner.” Bath salts drug abuse leads to bath salts addiction, as well as horrifying side effects including panic attacks, hallucinations, and uncontrolled violent behavior. If you or someone you love has gotten hooked on bath salts, here are 10 reasons to treat your addiction immediately.
Why do people chase a bath salts high?
A big part of the popularity of bath salts drugs is due to them being easy to afford, and easy to find. The bath salts high itself is 10 times more potent than cocaine and just as addictive. Bath salts have been marketed as cheap substitutions for other kinds of stimulants like crystal meth and cocaine, and while bath salts are indeed cheaper, they aren’t exactly equal substitutions, considering they produce a high that is ten times stronger than cocaine.
With bath salts being sold in small foil or plastic packages labeled “jewelry cleaner” or “plant food,” along with “not for human consumption,” bath salts drug dealing can take place in plain sight without drawing too much attention. The name bath salts was given because these drugs come in the form of a brown or white crystalline powder that resembles actual, toiletry bath salts, and which are then swallowed, smoked, injected, or most often snorted.
We are still learning about the many effects that bath salts have on the brain, but we do know for sure that the chemical makeup of bath salts resembles other stimulants, such as amphetamines and MDMA or Molly. In the short term, stimulant drugs create euphoria, lowered inhibitions, increased sociability, and reduced depression and anxiety, although high doses, long term use, and withdrawal can actually worsen or cause depression and anxiety, along with a host of other physical, psychological, and emotional challenges. Bath salts also raise blood pressure and heart rate, putting users at risk of cardiac problems, and can cause kidney failure and muscle and skeletal degeneration.
How prevalent is abuse of bath salts drug?
Bath salts could be openly and legally sold in stores as recently as six years ago. In 2012, the major chemical components in bath salts were reclassified by the DEA as a Schedule I drug, which makes substances illegal due to having a high potential for abuse and no approved medical use. This ban hasn’t eradicated bath salts drug abuse, but rather, has spurred manufacturers to constantly work on creating new formulas that possess enough chemical differences to dodge the ban and qualify as legal. Because they are usually packaged to appear to be genuine household goods or beauty products, buying and selling bath salts is a relatively easy process with a relatively minor risk of legal consequences. Going on to take a bath salts drug, however, puts you at major risk of the kind of violent and uncontrolled behavior that has led to the arrest and incarceration of many bath salts drug users—some after their very first encounter with the drug.
Another thing that makes bath salts drugs more appealing to users is that most routine drug screens will not detect bath salts, making them a perfect drug of abuse for individuals who are required to undergo regular drug testing. Drivers who drive under the influence of bath salts will also go undetected if stopped by police under suspicion of intoxicated driving, unless the officer is well-versed in the signs of stimulant abuse and requires the individual to take a specialized laboratory drug test. Even then, the fact that synthetic designer drugs can be manipulated in ways that preserve the same psychoactive effects while altering their chemical makeup makes laws and drug tests useless to stem the tide of bath salts abuse by way of the legislative system.
The best approach to conquering bath salts drug abuse is on an individual basis, by helping bath salts drug abusers recognize that they need to seek professional addiction help as soon as possible.
10 Reasons to Treat Your Bath Salts Drug Abuse Immediately
1. Bath salts make you lose control of your body, mind, and actions.
From nosebleeds, dizziness, and loss of motor control; to agitation, panic attacks, irritability and depression; to hallucinations, agitation and violent and psychotic behavior, bath salts can turn you into a miserable, out of control stranger. The sooner you treat your bath salts drug abuse, the less suffering you’ll have to endure, and the more likely you can avoid doing something terrible that you will regret for the rest of your life.
2. Bath salts are cheap, but they aren’t that cheap.
No matter how cheap your drug of choice may be, all addictions are expensive, and quitting drugs will always save you money. In addition, the expense of bath salts drug abuse doesn’t solely come from the amount of money you spend on the drug; it also comes from the money you lose due to working less hours, losing jobs, treating new health problems, and dealing with property damage or legal fees that may result from your uncontrolled actions during a bath salts high.
3. Bath salts drug abuse leads to poisoning and overdose.
If you want to keep living, you need to seek treatment for your bath salts addiction as soon as possible. Bath salts cause a range of potentially fatal physical effects such as cardiac problems, skeletal and muscle tissue breakdown, and kidney failure; as well as psychosis and suicidal thoughts that could lead you to deliberately or accidentally harm yourself and others.
4. Bath salts make you feel like crap.
Bath salt drug abuse can cause sweating, dizziness, brain fog, insomnia, anxiety, extreme mood swings, nausea, vomiting, and more—even from your very first use. Whatever small amount of good feeling you get from a bath salts high is not worth all the sickness, exhaustion, and loss of control that goes along with using the drug.
5. Bath salts can turn your life into a waking nightmare.
Extreme paranoia, psychosis, hallucinations, dissociation from reality, and panic attacks are all possible side effects of bath salts drug abuse. You may take bath salts seeking euphoria, and instead find yourself transported into a waking nightmare that could lead to grave consequences that linger long after the bath salts high is over.
6. Bath salts will make you hurt yourself and the people you love.
Bath salts lead to more suicides than any other drug.
Not only does bath salts drug abuse hurt you and your loved ones emotionally, it will most likely cause you to hurt yourself and your loved ones physically. A common risk of bath salts drug abuse is excited delirium, an extreme state of agitation that often causes violent actions towards oneself and others, especially when it is accompanied by hallucinations, paranoia, and suicidal thoughts. A study of people who died due to bath salts discovered that 41% of those fatalities were due to suicides—a rate higher than found with any other drug.
7. Bath salts will dominate your life.
Bath salts addiction is an obsession that compels you to do anything to keep using, even at the expense of your health, your self-respect, your dreams, and your loved ones. This addiction is a disease that controls your life, taking away your free will and locking you in a prison of seeking, taking, and recovering from drug use. Getting treatment for bath salts drug abuse is the only way to break free from this prison and take charge of your life again.
8. Breaking free from bath salts addiction will make life feel good again.
It may take some time and effort to get there, but overcoming an addiction to bath salts will allow your body and mind to heal, and allow you to enjoy a life with renewed hope for the future. Imagine how wonderful it will be to get through an entire day feeling good physically and mentally, while directing your own actions, instead of being ruled by a need for more drugs.
9. Getting professional treatment is your best chance of success.
You may be tempted to try and detox and recover from bath salts addiction all on your own, but this would be a mistake. Withdrawal symptoms such as anxiety, depression, tremors, insomnia, paranoia, mood swings, and more can easily derail your recovery and cause you to start using again before you’ve really had the opportunity to start healing. Detoxing with professional guidance, then following up with expert addiction treatment, will give you the tools and support you need for long-term success.
10. Bath salts addiction treatment is cheaper than you think.
Between insurance coverage, non-profit addiction programs, government help, and sliding scale fees, there are many different ways to make bath salts drug addiction treatment affordable for you, no matter your financial situation. Contact your insurance company, an addiction hotline, and/or treatment facilities to get help sorting through the payment options available to you.
Where can I get bath salts drug abuse treatment?
With a little help, you can find convenient and effective treatment for your bath salts addiction starting right now.
In 2014, SAMHSA’s National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that 22.5 million Americans age 12 and older need treatment for drug and alcohol abuse, while only 2.6 million of them actually receive that needed treatment at a specialty addiction treatment program. Don’t be one of the millions of people who fall through the treatment gap. Step up and get the help you need now.
What kinds of treatments are available for bath salts drug abuse?
Bath salts are highly addictive, but recovery is possible with drug addiction treatment. Treatment begins with detoxification, as the drug works its way out of your brain and body. During this process, you will experience withdrawal symptoms like intense drug cravings, anxiety, depression, tremors, paranoia, and difficulty sleeping, unless you receive medical treatment to counteract the symptoms.
Although there are no medications currently approved by the FDA for bath salts drug addiction, there are prescription drugs that medical professionals can use on a short-term basis to ease your symptoms during detox. Benzodiazepines can address the extreme agitation and anxiety that can accompany bath salts withdrawal, and antipsychotics can address stimulant-induced psychosis.
Following detox, you will shift your focus to behavioral and psychological addiction treatments. Counselors can work with you to change your perspectives on drug use and teach you new ways of coping with stress, conflict, negative emotions, and other drug use triggers. They can also help you work through any emotional or psychological issues that may have prompted you to start using bath salts in the first place. Couples and family counseling can be useful as well, to repair damaged relationships, and to lay the groundwork for a healthier home life that will support your continued recovery success.
After you are discharged from a rehab program, addiction treatment doesn’t end, it simply decreases in intensity. You may use a sober living house as a transitional living space after treatment, or move directly back home. This will depend on the safety and security of your current home environment. You will most likely already have an aftercare plan in place, which you will have created in collaboration with your treatment providers.
An aftercare plan will spell out steps that you will take to continue your treatment and support your progress through resources such as alumni activities, community services, vocational and job support assistance, and peer support groups. The key is to keep receiving treatment for as long as you need it, and to adjust the intensity of your treatment according to life’s natural ups and downs.
You can overcome the tyranny of bath salts drug abuse—start right now by asking for help.