Bath Salts

“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” – 1 Peter 5:8 (ESV)

I heard the news few days ago. I was still tired from working this past weekend and my mind kept processing all the things that happened that were new to me. I was talking about the mandatory test we all had regarding increasing our knowledge with another form of substance being abused out in the streets. It’s called “bath salts.”

The headline was that the man was naked and kept chewing out of another man’s face. It took a lot of bullets before the police officer was able to stop him. The Miami cops believed the man they killed was under the influence of "bath salts".

I dealt with one when I went to work this Saturday in the prison. He was housed alone for his weird behavior. He was so unpredictable that the deputy who asked us to re-evaluate the said inmate, refused to open the main door in his cell. He opened a tiny window from the door and I had the inmate stretched his left hand so I could take his blood pressure. Though might not that be accurate but was safer to do. He was cooperative. Only to be so upset next minute. He kept changing his answers. Suicidal at one point then later denied. He was so restless. Pacing in his tiny cell, he would get up and started washing his shirts. Then, he took a shower.

“He’s not having an alcohol withdrawal,” I told the deputy.

“But he definitely needs to be assessed by the Psychiatrist. Good thing he’s still here. I’ll let him know right now,” I reassured.

The Psych Doctor sensing the urgency from my demeanor didn’t refuse my request for him to see the inmate though he was not on his list for that day. He agreed with me. His bizarre behavior was drug-induced. Next thing we knew, 4 deputies were trying to hold him down, their strength unmatched with his despite him being in a handcuff. He was thrown in another cell at Intake part of the prison where he could be monitored intensely by other deputies after he ripped off something in his previous cell. There, he started banging his head and ended up cutting his right hand from the metal door. We went ahead and sent him out to ER to be evaluated and treated with high alert to the deputies that they might need to restrain him for the risk he posed against himself and toward staff. Few minutes later, he was calm and cooperative as the deputies put him in the Sheriff's car to go to ER. I had never seen any psychotic changes like that in my career. It was either one was crazy or faking it but not on and off symptoms. It was something harder to deal with. And how dangerous it looked, especially for the health status of that person abusing bath salts.

Currently, there are no clear tests to determine bath salt use. The symptoms are way worse than other known abused drugs. They are known as “Ivory Wave”, “Purple Wave”, “Bliss” and “Vanilla Sky”. Don’t confuse them with those things one puts in their bathtubs. By calling them “bath salts”, those who are selling them illegally are able to put them out in the market under this name.

I just want to share that with you and to watch out for those you might suspect are abusing “something”…As one’s mind is clouded with the drug use, I believe the spiritual enemy can gain his ground in someone who doesn’t have a clear perception of things. It is sad that one got killed and the other man got hurt pretty bad because his face was eaten. Some thought the other man was a “zombie”. No matter what we hear, the act done was so evil.

“And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.”

– Genesis 9:5-6 (ESV)

5/31/12 - Here's another link from ABC news if you have time and want to know more about this dangerous drug:



http://news.yahoo.com/video/us-15749625/bath-salts-causing-excited-delirium-29514592.html