'Bath salts' drug ingredient to be made illegal

The federal government intends to makemethylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV),a key ingredient in the street drug known as "bath salts," illegal.

The white powderdrug that contains MDPV and otheringredients is known to cause hallucinations, paranoia and violent behaviour.

Bath salts may have played a role in a violent attack in Miami recently. Police in the Florida city saya man theykilled because he was allegedly eating another man's face and refused to stop was exhibiting behaviour consistent with taking the drug. It has also been linked to other bizarre episodes and harmful incidents, according to police.

The drug started popping up in Canada a few years ago. Users typically snort, smoke or injectthe drug,and experience effects similar to the kind of highusers get using amphetamines.

A Nova Scotia man recentlydescribed to CBC Newshow the feeling he had after using the drug was scary even for an experienced drug user. He said he felt like killing himself, or someone else, andhe ended up in hospital.

Bath saltscontain amphetamine-type stimulants including MDPV, which is currently not regulated under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. It is considered a synthetic cathinone, chemically similar to what occurs naturally in the khat plant.

Synthetic cathinones are ingredients in somelegal pharmaceuticals but nolegal drugs containing MDPV have been approved for sale in Canada.

Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq announced Tuesday that the government will list MDPV on Schedule 1 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. That's the same category as heroin and cocaine, and regulating it will make possessing, trafficking, importing, exporting and producing MDPV illegal, unless authorized.

"This will make it harder for people to deal in or even manufacture these so-called bath salts," Aglukkaq saidat an event in Ottawa.

"These are not typical household bath salts, they are not the Epsom salts or the scented crystals that you will find in many Canadian homes and pharmacies. These are drugs, serious drugs," she said.

The public will have until July 10 to comment on the proposal to ban MDPV and the government says unless new evidence about the chemical comes to light, it will be illegal by this fall.

The drug is already banned in the United States and other countries. It has been posing a challenge to law enforcement because as a synthetic product, drug-sniffing dogs and urine screening tests can miss it.

It is also difficult to track down because the drug is being packaged and sold as an authentic consumer product with labels that describe it as real bath salts, plant food or insect repellant, and say "not for human consumption."

Making MDPV illegal will give police the tools they need to get the products off the streets, Aglukkaq said.

Frederiction's police chief, Barry MacKnight, who is vice-president of theCanadian Association of Chiefs of Police and chair of its drug abuse committee, said Health Canada is taking an important step.

"This is sending a strong message to Canadians and especially young Canadians that this drug is harmful," he said at the news conference.

He said MDPV appears to be more prevalentin Atlantic Canada but there is wide concern across the country. MacKnight said the recreational use of the drug and its harmful effects first came on the radar of his association in late 2010 when he met with American counterparts.