The use of a synthetic drug called "bath salts" is on the rise in the Marine Corps because there's no way to test for it - at least, not yet, according to the Marine Corps Times.
Navy Lt. George Loeffler, chief psychiatry resident at Naval Medical Center San Diego, recently said at a drug use conference in San Diego:
“It’s one of the reasons why these substances appear so popular in the military, vice in the civilian community. They actually market it to the fact that that they don’t pop positive on the standard urine drug screen.”
Loeffler said the problem with bath salts use in the military became apparent during a brief window of time in 2010 and 2011. During that period, seven active-duty military were admitted to Naval Medical Center San Diego for horrific side effects associated with bath salt use, like hallucinations, hearing voices, and extreme agitation.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse:
Doctors and clinicians at U.S. poison centers have indicated that ingesting or snorting "bath salts" containing synthetic stimulants can cause chest pains, increased blood pressure, increased heart rate, agitation, hallucinations, extreme paranoia, and delusions.
The NIDA reports bath salts are sold under names like "Ivory Wave," "Red Dove," "Blue Silk," "Zoom," "Cloud Nine," "Scarface," and "Hurricane Charlie."
