What Are Bath Salts Made Of?

How Do People Abuse Bath Salts?

Bath salts are a type of “designer” drug of abuse. The reason these drugs are commonly called bath salts is because they tend to be in the form of white powder or crystals. However, these substances are not at all the same as the bath salts in which people bathe. Many of the bath salt drugs include mephedrone, methylone, and methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV or MDPK) and are synthetic cathinones, which are found in plants commonly called khat. These drugs and are chemically similar to stimulant chemicals like cocaine or amphetamines. MDPV or MDPK also have chemical similarities to hallucinogens like Ecstasy.

As of 2011, bath salts were the sixth most commonly used drugs, after tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, and Ecstasy. Bath salts users tend to be male slightly more often than female and younger than the users of other drugs, and most use it at least weekly. Most bath salts users snort or otherwise inhale the drug, causing a more intense high and higher risk of addiction and complications.