Calgon Take Me Away -

The Designer Drug That Is Sending People Down the Drain...

By Bella

I’m sitting in front of the computer the night before we go to print, waiting until the last minute, because I have been dreading writing this story. It’s very personal, I’m not proud of it, and it could quite possibly damage my reputation and even my business. So why am I sharing this? Because after a lot of introspection, I realized that the reason I have fans in the first place is because I’ve been willing to put myself out there and print things that most people would never share, simply because I don’t want everyone to feel so alone.

A question that has been asked a lot lately, usually with much scorn, is “Who would be stupid enough to snort bath salts?” Well, I was. And it damn near killed me.

In just the past month, the law and local media have finally caught on to this new, “gray market” drug that has been sold at gas stations and head shops to anyone with $25 to spare for months now. Sold under the brand names Ivory Wave, Blue Silk, and many others, the substance is packaged as “bath salt” and labeled “not for human consumption” – but most often the active ingredient is mephedrone, which according to sites like Erowid (a drug resource site) and Wikipedia is a synthetic stimulant in the same family as amphetamines and cathinone (more commonly known as CAT).

So no, it’s not Calgon, not by a long shot. It’s basically speed mixed with a euphoric high like extacy (MDMA) and is a very potent designer drug that is only on the market because 1) the FDA can’t regulate something that is labeled not for human consumption and 2) the law simply hasn’t caught up with science yet. Even though there are laws on the books banning drugs “similar” to controlled substances, their hands are tied by the same “not for human consumption” law.

Bath salts started showing up in the area around last fall, and many people starting taking it as a legal alternative to meth. It was easily available, about the same price, had a similar high, and reportedly people were able to pass drug tests while on it. Not to mention the fact that if they got caught with it – there was nothing the law could do.

Though many of the first users around here were regular drug users simply using it as a replacement, the real problems started when people who were only recreational drug users, or even people who would never do anything illegal, discovered it and starting taking it without realizing quite what they were getting into.

That was pretty much my situation. In my wild, younger days…hell, I did every drug under the sun. But I was never a speedy girl, I was more mellow. I did drugs to feel good – not to peek out window shades for seven hours straight. “I don’t know, man, that van has tinted windows…”

These days I can’t even smoke pot. For one thing, I’ve pissed off enough people in high places that I know better than to go around doing stupid shit. But for some weird reason, when I was about 22, it just started making me paranoid and freak out. So now I just drink a lot.

Since I’ve started this paper, I’ve been constantly overwhelmed, doing the jobs of eight people, and have needed something for energy. For the most part it was Monsters, Jolt gum, and caffeine pills that would keep me up and working in the very little quiet time I had. Then someone gave me a package of Blue Silk. I was told it was legal and safe, basically like the Stacker 2, “trucker speed” sold at gas stations, and hell, I threw it in a drawer and forgot about it.

Then things went batshit crazy this past December. We were working to get a pinup calendar out, I was running late on the December issue, my family went to Disney World, I had one day to buy Christmas presents, the Shack Shaker event I was helping promote was on New Year’s Eve – and one night I was exhausted, still had hours of work to do, and the Monsters just weren’t cutting it. So I tried it.

To me – it didn’t feel like meth. I tried meth when I was younger, and never liked it. This felt pretty damn good. I had energy, but I was also happy. I could do a little once a week, then once a day, and in as little as three weeks – it had me. To me it’s like coke versus crack. Even though I was already tweaking my ass off, I wanted another bump. And another. To the point where I wasn’t eating, I wasn’t sleeping, and I sure as hell wasn’t getting anything done. I was an emotional wreck, having panic attacks all the time, and when something really bad happened in my life, something shattering – my mind just broke.

Thank god I had good friends around me, people who saw what was happening and caught me when I fell. I was sobbing in a gas station parking lot, telling my friend that I just couldn’t take it anymore, that I was losing my mind. My friends talked me through it, told me that nothing was broken that couldn’t be fixed, and made me drink some chicken broth and go to sleep.

For the next two weeks, I didn’t get out of bed. I plunged into the deepest depression of my life. It’s not that I wanted to die, I just couldn’t be. I was nothing. I felt nothing. I just wanted to sleep. Oh, I did a lot of crying, too. I don’t know if it was the withdrawal or just the depression of what I had been through, put everyone through, but for a while there I didn’t think I was going to come out of it.

Since I’ve started asking people about it, and hearing their experiences, it terrifies me about what could have happened. One girl told me that she didn’t think she had a problem until she realized that she had been in the bathroom for an hour, picking at her face, and noticed her hands were covered in blood.

Another person told me that when they tried to use Xanax to come off of it, instead of calming them down, it made them have a total blackout, and they didn’t even remember driving around all day.

And yes, people have told me about having hallucinations. It would begin with seeing something out of the corner of their eye, or hearing a whisper that wasn’t there…but that then they started talking to people that weren’t there, in front of their friends. One guy said he was sitting at his friend’s house in a recliner and was talking to his friends and he thought he was at Outback Steakhouse.

Now most of these situations happened when people had hit the point of going overboard. Instead of doing a small bump (about 25-50mg), they were using a 500mg package in a day. Or using it for three or four days in a row, not sleeping.

Even after my experience, I’m hesitant to say it’s “evil” – I think like most mind-altering substances there is a huge difference in moderation and excess. Hell, alcohol can kill you, and even the people around you if you’re dumb enough to drive.

One girl had this to say: “I’m a single working mom. I stick to only what is legal when it comes to my fun. I first tried bath salt a few months ago. At first I was doing it weekly, until I realized that I was falling into a vicious cycle. It was to the point I was spending almost $100 a week on bath salt. After a month, I knew things had to change when I looked in the mirror and realized I picked the hell out of my face, which I had never done to that extent in my life. I then reduced my usage to once or twice a month and have been enjoying it more so on occasion now than before. It's definitely something that should be researched before doing and done with as much moderation as possible. Bath salt for me definitely had a high re-dosing urge, which is a red flag to be cautious. Overall, I would say quite pleasant and nice on occasion and in moderation, but difficult to do so. I think it should remain legal. There are always going to be people overdoing it on something, be it alcohol, bath salt, you name it.”

She pointed out that she would never do anything illegal, for numerous reasons, and that this was her one little thing that she liked to do. She said that since she has learned how to use it in moderation, she hasn’t had any other problems with it.

I don’t know if it should be illegal. If it becomes illegal, it’s just going to go underground and be sold at higher prices, probably start being cut with other drugs, and people will start going to jail. However – the biggest reason I did this story is because I wanted to warn people. Just because something is legal, it doesn’t mean it’s safe. There has never been a published study on it, and anyone who is taking it is pretty much using themselves as a human guinea pig.

As soon as the stories in the local media starting coming out – people rushed out to buy the drug, and soon after the three places in town that had been  carrying it snapped them off the shelf. It’s already been banned in Ballard County, and will probably be banned statewide shortly. A bill is being rushed through legislation as I write this. But since it’s become big news, and people starting talking about it – we’ve realized what a huge problem it has become. I’ve had friends telling me that everyone they know are dropping like flies.

But like I said, even when it’s illegal – people will still do it. So if you are going to do it, research it, do it safely. There’s a wonderful online resource called www.lifeline.org.uk that has a PDF with all the FAQ’s about mephedrone. It tells you to stay hydrated, to take small doses, and sites like Erowid say that overdoses have been treated in hospitals with a benzodiazepine like lorazepam, though like I said earlier, some have reported that doing that leads to vicious blackouts. I do not in any way endorse taking this drug, or treating an overdose yourself, because what you need to do in that situation is call a freaking ambulance. They won’t automatically call the cops, especially while it’s still legal, but be sure to tell them what you have taken so they can treat you properly.

I came out with this story because I felt like no one was taking it seriously. That since people were out there saying, “Bath salts? What kind of idiot would do that?” – that people who were on it would be not only afraid to talk about it but embarrassed as well. Also, I know that coming from me – someone I hope you’ve learned over the past two years can be honest in the face of gut-wrenching fear and shame – that it might mean a little more than if it came from some Mr. Makay-type saying, “Drugs er bad, mkay?”

I’m still not over this. I’m not sure if I ever will be. There is a part of me that is crushed and damaged, and full of self-loathing. I almost quit the paper. Hell, I thought about going to Two North. But thankfully, I’m coming out of it. And I hope, and pray, that if any of you out there have been through this, or are right now going through this….you will at least know that someone understands where you’re at, and wants you to know that you can make it out alive.