Ohio Police Describe Strange Hallucinations of Bath Salts Users
June 17, 2012 in Featured
A video released by the Ohio State Highway Patrol of a woman under the influence of bath salts.
Public Intelligence
Last month the Ohio State Highway Patrol partnered with the Ohio Strategic Analysis and Information Center (SAIC) to survey local police departments about their encounters with suspects under the influence of bath salts. Since its release last month, the survey has been circulated by law enforcement around the country, discussed online in forums by concerned police officers and has even begun to garner press attention for its disturbing reports of the effects of the designer drug, including superhuman strength and highly bizarre hallucinations that often result in violent behavior.
According to the survey, suspects under the influence of bath salts display symptoms of “hyperventilation, cramps, dehydration, vomiting, shaking, loss of memory” or display “rapid movement, rapid speech.” Bath salts users often appear “disoriented … pale, emaciated, jittery,” have “itchy skin” and sometimes admit to not having slept for several days. Suspects under the influence of bath salts have also been reported by witnesses as being “hostile, violent, unpredictable, out of control, paranoid, and reckless.”
One section of the report offers several examples of hallucinations and irrational behavior exhibited by suspects using bath salts:
A male, using bath salts, reported raccoons setting fire inside his home. As a result, he proceeded to destroy his home and used a hatchet to cut up his deck, while attempting to locate the fire-setting raccoons. He also believed the raccoons stole his cell phone. A male, using bath salts, believed he was being followed by police helicopters and police officers were using mirrors, snipers and different types of scopes to look through his walls. He called police requesting to negotiate with them, however there were no police at the residence when the call was made.
During the course of speaking to an offender and officer reported, he yelled, “AT&T calling, may I help you, AT&T is calling, a million dollars, two black guys……it’s not a racial thing, it’s not a racial thing.”
Another incident described in the report involved a man who was on bath salts and was arrested for choking his mother after he reportedly told officers that she had been “practicing demonology” and poisoning his food. These hallucinations can be increasingly dangerous as the survey found that bath salts often make people exhibit “unusual superhuman strength” and seemingly be resistant to pain. An incident reported by Reynoldsburg Police involved the use of a Taser against a subject where the “probes penetrated in the torso of the suspect,” yet the “suspect fought through the electric current and rose to his feet.”
Of course, it is unclear how many of these incidents are truly attributable to bath salts as the report notes that in approximately 50% of these incidents other narcotics were discovered on the suspect, including Marjijuana, Cocaine and prescription medication.
Related Material From the Archive:
- (U//FOUO) Ohio Fusion Center Report: Bath Salts and Officer Safety
- Regional Organized Crime Information Center (ROCIC) Bath Salts Designer Drug Report
- (U//FOUO) New Jersey Fusion Center Mephedrone or Bath Salts Warning
- (U//FOUO) LulzSec Release: U.S. Air Force Bath Salts Report
- (U//LES) El Paso Intelligence Center Bath Salts Synthetic Stimulant Bulletin
- (U//FOUO) Ohio Fusion Center Winter Clothing Warning
- Private Security Contractors Outnumber Police 2 to 1 Worldwide
- Global Private Security/Police Officer Personnel Levels By Country/Per Capita 2011
Ok. This raises a few obvious questions.
1. How is it *medically possible* that this drug has given its users the ability to bend steel handcuffs and posess this so called “superhuman strength”? These drugs affect the brain, and the brain does not determine physical strength, this is what muscles do. This smells like a lie, or an exaggeration under stress by a panicked officer.
2. The stories of a man “cutting up his deck” and the “police using mirrors to peek into a person’s home” seem very cliche and more than a bit exaggerated. This sounds like the kind of “drug use story” people who have never used the drug in question make up to seem like they have used it. The effects of the bath salts here seem overestimated. This smells like propaganda.
3. The paper admits the Bath Salts are not the only contributing factor in these cases, but the Bath Salts are the factor this paper plays up the most, and it seems to downplay or fail to elaborate on other factors. This looks like a bad attempt at a smear.
1. under extreme circumstances, the huge adrenaline rush in the brain can give people “superhuman strength” by increasing the body’s focus on the muscles and decreasing other bodily and brain functions; ie. stopping the digestive process to improve muscle function. these drugs may be capable of producing similar affects.
2. Clearly you have never heard of PCP.
3. agreed. but “bath salts’ is not a drug, its a brand selling various drugs that are often mixed together and changed over time, so i wouldnt be surprised if some of their products can cause extreme reactions.