assortment of synthetic cocaine, commonly known as “bath salts,” includes brands such as Tranquility, White Girl and White Rush.

15:43 ” includes brands such as Tranquility , assortment of synthetic cocaine , commonly known as “bath salts , White Girl and White Rush. 0 Comments

But that doesn’t mean the responsibility to try to help youth goes away, particularly when it comes to potentially harmful and even life-threatening behavior.

With the “spring party season’’ upon us — like it or not, that’s the reality — youths in this region would be well advised to heed health and safety warnings about a product called “bath salts,’’ an assortment of synthetic cocaine that is for sale at several downtown State College stores. Because it’s marked “not for human consumption,’’ it can be legally sold, as reported last Sunday in the Centre Daily Times.

Paranoia, anxiety and hallucinations are among the symptoms of users who have been showing up in the emergency room of Mount Nittany Medical Center. So far, those have been the most serious cases reported by Centre County authorities since bath salts, which go by such names as White Rush, White Girl and Blizzard, first began appearing locally last fall.

That is not the case in neighboring Blair County, where at least one death has been attributed to a bath salts overdose. In another case in Blair, two friends high on the product reportedly fought and stabbed each other during a dispute over a container of bath salts.

This clearly is a ticking time bomb. And so as not to paint with a broad brush, retailers selling bath salts note that some customers are middle-aged and sales cut across all demographics.

Incidentally, retailers defend the sales, saying the product is popular, and that any individual store that decides to remove bath salts from its shelves risks losing significant business to competitors.

While we would hope appeals to individual abstention and retailers’ consciences would make a major dent in curtailing, if not eliminating, the product, experience with other legally synthetic knock-offs of common street drugs shows that is unlikely to happen.

So we support the recent move by state Rep. Jerry Stern, R-Blair, to add the chemicals in bath salts to the Schedule I list of controlled substance: Methylone, MDPV and mephedrone.

Stern’s bill has been merged with two other bills aimed at banning chemicals in synthetic marijuana and salvia, a psychoactive plant. We also support congressional efforts led by U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N. Y., for a federal ban on bath salts chemicals.

But as these efforts work through the legislative pipeline, the existing availability of bath salts and other legally synthetic products on stores shelves in downtown business districts raises concerns that the problem will worsen before it gets solved. This is one of those matters that should get fast-tracked by the General Assembly.

In the meantime, anyone tempted to try bath salts — perhaps under peer pressure — should stop and think. A trip to the emergency room may not only await, it might be a best-case scenario.