Minnnesota’s New Synthetic Drug Law Snags First Offender
Thursday, 07 July 2011 | by Pat's Picks
The St. Paul Pioneer Press says a Minnesota man has the dubious honor of being the first person arrested under a days-old law aimed at ferreting out drivers who are using synthetic drugs. Armed with 10 previous DWI charges, the man was stopped by police for driving erratically. If it’d been three days earlier, they would’ve been forced to let him go. But because of the state’s new law, the man was charged with driving under the influence of bath salts. Police say it’s a difficult law to enforce in part because the chemical makeup of synthetic drugs is often tweaked and hard to analyze: “It’s the law trying to keep up with the chemistry, and that is very difficult.”
What are Bath Salts? The Pioneer Press explains: “‘Bath salts’ are synthetic stimulants. Other common names are Ivory Wave and plant fertilizer. The drug can be snorted, swallowed, smoked or injected. It’s comparable to cocaine, methamphetamines and Ecstasy. The drug can cause side effects, such as poor concentration, teeth grinding, problems focusing visually, delusions, erratic behavior and hallucinations.”