Ameritox has developed a test to detect "bath salts," a class of drugs being created in chemistry labs with the purpose of bypassing laws and providing a "legal high."
Though the Drug Enforcement Administration currently includes three synthetic cathinones—known on the street as "bath salts" or "plant food"—on its list of banned Schedule 1 drugs, Ameritox scientists have formulated tests that screen for five additional chemical compositions. This level of screening for bath salts puts Ameritox at the forefront of other pain medication monitoring labs.
Structurally and pharmacologically similar to amphetamine, methamphetamine, and MDMA ("Ecstasy"), synthetic cathinones, or bath salts, are laboratory-created versions of a controlled substance. These substances, however, have no legitimate bathing use, in contrast to Epsom salts. In what some have called a "chemical cat and mouse game," new versions of bath salts are continuously produced with a slightly altered molecular structure to avoid being classified as illicit drugs.
Deaths related to the use of bath salts have occurred in numerous states in recent weeks and poisonings have jumped. In 2011, the National Poison Control Centers received over 6,000 calls about synthetic cathinones, compared to only 300 in 2010.
Bath salts are widely available for $25 to $60 a packet at convenience stores and smoke shops, and the US government has mobilized to combat their rising abuse. In June 2011, the DEA placed three specific synthetic cathinones into its Schedule 1 category of controlled substances, citing the move as "necessary to avoid imminent hazard to the public safety" due to high abuse potential and lack of medical use.
Ameritox has developed tests for bath salts that not only detect three common synthetic cathinones that the DEA categorized as controlled substances, but also tests for five other chemical components commonly used in bath salts products.
Source: Ameritox
