Since 2008, there have been increasing reports on fatal intoxications associated with
the use of a new class of designer drugs called “bath salts.” These products usually
come in packets containing bags, tubes, or capsules of white to light brown powder
carrying the warning “not for human consumption.” They have also been marketed as
“legal highs,” plant foods, or insect repellents and can be easily purchased from
Internet Web sites, smoke shops, and convenience stores. Analysis of their drug contents
revealed that synthetic cathinones are their major components, although other classes
of designer drugs such as aminoindanes, benzofurans, and piperazines may sometimes
be incorporated. Generally, bath salts are regarded as stimulants and drug users exploit
them as substitutes for methamphetamine and methylenedioxymethylamphetamine (MDMA).
As such, intoxications seen in patients from bath salts use mimic or exaggerate symptoms
seen in intoxications associated with amphetamines and its derivatives.
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KEY POINTS
- •Use of “bath salts” is attractive to young adults largely because of their stimulatory and hallucinogenic properties.
- •Synthetic cathinones are the major components of bath salts but other classes of designer amines have also been incorporated in second-generation “legal high” or bath salts products.
- •There are four major reactions involved in the metabolism of synthetic cathinones but the major metabolic pathway utilized vary among the different classes of synthetic cathinones.
- •Rapid changes in the composition of bath salts pose tremendous challenge in the development of targeted methods for its laboratory analysis; high resolution mass spectrometry is well-suited to respond to this challenge.
Keywords
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Footnotes
The authors have nothing to disclose.
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Published by Elsevier Inc.
