The wave of bath salts users has died down, well in the media at least, but people are still using this drug that is known to be way stronger than cocaine.  Scientists have revealed the ingredient that causes the hallucinations and paranoia when the drug is taken. Hit the jump.

Steph B

As lethal bath salts continue to take young lives, researchers have discovered the shocking strength of a key ingredient that leaves users struggling with the after effects for days.
MDPV, commonly found in the street drug is ten times stronger than cocaine, according to the National Science Foundation.
It causes users to become paranoid, violent and agitated, at times leading to hallucinations.

But unlike with other drugs, such as cocaine or ecstasy, doctors are noticing a worrying trend of people suffering these symptoms for days after snorting the legal high.
‘They’re selling time bombs,’ Louisiana Poison Control Center Director Dr. Mark Ryan told ABC News.
‘We’ve had some people show up who are complaining of chest pains so severe that they think they’re having a heart attack. They think they’re dying.

‘They have extreme paranoia. They’re having hallucinations. They see things, they hear things, monsters, demons, aliens.’
One such victim of the cocaine-like bath salts (which have nothing to do with bathing, despite their casual name) was 21-year-old Dickie Sanders.
He suffered severe hallucinations after snorting a packet of bath salts, labelled ‘Cloud Nine’, became convince he was being hunted by police and sliced at his throat with a kitchen knife.
Saunders survived his horrific injuries, returning home with stitches and telling his mother: ‘I can’t handle what this drug has done to me. I’m never going to touch anything again.’
The side effects persisted, Saunders’ father ended up having to sleep beside him, holding his son in his arms and trying to comfort him.
He eventually calmed and drifted off to sleep.
But hours later, suddenly and without warning, Saunders left the protective arms of his father and in the midst of another psychotic episode shot himself with a rifle.

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