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.

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