Louisiana is apparently in the heart of the bath salt crisis, according to both national and local poison control centers.
Mark Ryan, director of the Lousiana Poison Control Center, said there have been 26 calls to Louisiana Poison Control Centers this year regarding bath salts.
Ryan said the busiest day was New Year’s Day, with 12 calls.
Gov. Bobby Jindal issued an emergency order Jan. 6 that made several chemicals marketed as “bath salts” or “plant food” illegal, according to a news release.
“We have seen (emergency calls) plummet off the wall since the ban went into effect,” Ryan said.
“Since the end of September, Louisiana Poison Control has received 165 calls from people in crisis after snorting, smoking or injecting these dangerous substances,” the release said.
Fake bath salts joined Four Loko and synthetic marijuana on Louisiana’s list of banned substances for 2011.
Jessica Wehrman, spokeswoman for the AAPCC, said as of Jan. 17, there have been 116 calls to poison control centers regarding bath salts in 2011.
The calls to Louisiana Poison Control centers represent 57 percent of the calls nationwide pertaining to bath salts. The second-most number of calls came from Kentucky, which had seven times fewer calls than Louisiana with 23 calls.
Though Jindal issued an emergency order outlawing the products, plans are in place to go through the legislative process to pass a law banning them, according to Jindal’s press secretary, Kyle Plotkin.
Plotkin said in an e-mail that Jindal wants to “codify it and to also see if we need to strengthen the laws.”
“The reality is that the chemicals used to make these dangerous substances have no legitimate use other than to provide a high for the user,” Jindal said in the release. “Make no mistake — these are very dangerous drugs, and we must get them off our streets.”
Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals Secretary Bruce D. Greenstein has the “authority to add compounds as a Schedule I drug in the controlled dangerous substance act by rule if the substance has a high potential for abuse,” according to the release.
The fake bath salts are sold on the street under several code names, including Ivory Wave, Ocean, Charge +, White Lightning, Scarface, Hurricane Charlie, Red Dove, Cloud-9 and White Dove. The products have been banned in the United Kingdom, Israel, Australia and Canada, according to the release.
Sgt. Don Stone, Baton Rouge Police Department spokesman, said officers checked about 30 convenience stores after the emergency order was passed. They seized about 2,500 of the products, worth about $100,000.
Stone said BRPD did not reimburse store owners for the products they seized.
“We just did this round one time,” Stone said. “From that time on we’ll act on complaints only.”
Several local Baton Rouge hospitals said they have had no encounters with any of the banned products.
Sgt. Blake Tabor, LSU Police Department spokesman, said LSUPD officers have had no interaction or problems with the products.
Kathy Saichuk, Student Health Center health promotion coordinator, said they have not had any interaction with students using the fake bath salts.