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Unlike legitimate bath salts ---- which do not contain the compounds, called simulated cathinones ---- the bath salts sold online and in smoke shops produce a methamphetamine- and Ecstacy-like high when snorted, injected or smoked.

The drugs cause users to feel alert, euphoric and more aware of their senses, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. Like other stimulants, cathinones can be addictive, and reportedly have caused panic attacks and a host of health problems, including hypertension, high blood pressure, nose bleeds, dizziness and erratic behavior.

At least 28 states reportedly have banned bath salts. Earlier this year, Assemblyman Ben Hueso, D-Chula Vista, introduced Assembly Bill 486, which would ban the products in California.

The body of a middle-aged man tested positive for the compounds in early July, said Dr. Iain McIntyre, chief toxicologist for the medical examiner's office. He said it is the first positive test for the substances since the lab began screening for them in late May.

"We had heard about it ('bath salt' products) through various conferences and scientific meetings, and decided to see if we could test for it here with our current methods," McIntyre said. "Turns out we can."

The office developed a way to test for three compounds ---- mephedrone, naphyrone, and methylenedioxypyrovalerone or MDPV ---- using a drug screen it already runs in 40 to 60 percent of the roughly 2,500 accidental or unexpected deaths it investigates each year, McIntyre said.

The cause and manner of the unnamed man's death had not been determined, and it was unknown whether the drugs contributed to his death, McIntyre said. The specifics of the man's case will not be available until the autopsy report is complete, McIntyre said.

A handful of deaths had been attributed to the compounds worldwide as of March, according to drug and chemical evaluation materials produced by the DEA's Office of Diversion Control.

But abuse of bath salt products appears to be increasing in the United States, according to a report the DEA released in April.

The American Association of Poison Control Centers reported poison centers took 303 calls about synthetic cathinones in 2010, according to the association's website.

Between Jan. 1 and July 7 of this year, it had taken 3,740 calls.

Law enforcement also reported seeing more of the drug, according to the report.

In 2009, the National Forensic Information System received 14 reports of seized and analyzed "bath salt" drugs from law enforcement agencies in eight states, according to the report. Last year, the system received 290 reports from 21 states.

Escondido police were aware bath salts were being sold in the city, but the department had not launched any major criminal investigations or made arrests, officials said.

The same appeared to be true in Carlsbad, Lt. Paul Mendes, spokesman for Carlsbad Police Department, said Wednesday.

"I've been trained on them, gotten intelligence from other agencies, but I haven't seen any arrests here at all," he said.

Small, 750 mg containers of powder "bath salt" products marketed under brand names Extreme and Miami Heat were for sale for about $10 in North County smoke shops.

"Not for human consumption" was printed at the top of both products' labels, a disclaimer that frees them of federal Food and Drug Administration rules that would force manufacturers to list ingredients.

The same is true for chemical-laced plant products that are marketed as "incense," but commonly smoked for a marijuana-like high. Earlier this year, the DEA banned several synthetic cannabinoid compounds that had been used to make products such as Spice and K2. Such "incense" products are widely sold in smoke shops across the nation ---- including North County.

The DEA lists MDPV and mephedrone as "drugs of concern," though neither is illegal under federal law, according to the DEA.

However, crimes involving mephedrone can be prosecuted under a provision of the federal Controlled Substances Act. That provision makes illegal any substance that closely mimics a drug listed in the act, DEA officials said.

View article:

http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/sdcounty/article_7894818f-52a2-5f5b-97d9-b8f57dd86bc2.html#ixzz1UpoSIEYH

Why Toxicology Tests Take Time

February 13, 2012 | 3:16pm

If you’ve ever been to a health screening, you know that a nurse can take a drop of blood from your finger and come back in five minutes and show you your cholesterol and blood-sugar levels.

So why is that toxicology tests — the kind you often read about in high-profile deaths like that of singer Whitney Houston this past weekend — take so long, an average of 20 days, to conduct?

Well, a big part of the difference can be summed up in “what you know,” and “what you don’t know,” said Dr. Iain McIntyre of the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s office.

A clinical toxicologist (that nurse that pricked your finger) knows exactly what she’s looking for in your blood. On the other hand, a forensic toxicologist, McIntyre said, is looking for the unknown — everything that might be toxic in a blood sample.

There are other factors.

Unlike your quick cholesterol test, forensic toxicologists will conduct several different types of screening tests. That’s because no one testing method can determine all drugs.

And forensic toxicologists will go back and confirm all of their findings by conducting a second analytical procedure — which is important when legally trying to establish a potential cause of death.

On top of that secondary testing, forensic toxicologists will often further analyze their findings by comparing blood chemical levels with concentrations found in other organs such as a person’s stomach or liver. Drug concentrations in organs can help determine if drugs were used long term or administered recently, whether too much was taken at one time, whether interactions created problems, and whether high levels or bad interactions constituted accidents or overdoses.

And finally, there is there is the fact forensic toxicologists have to do a lot of tests. McIntyre said the County conducts toxicology tests for all of the deaths it investigates. How many is that? Well, the M.E.’s office is charged with investigating all deaths that are sudden and unexpected, all deaths related to injury or intoxication, and all suspicious deaths. In a county as large as San Diego County, that can be 70 deaths a week.

McIntyre said forensic toxicologists can do all their testing with less than a one-half a tube of blood, about three millimeters. He said they typically use “peripheral” blood, that is, blood take from an arm, or preferably, a leg.

The reason for that is that blood in organs such as the heart or liver can concentrate drug levels and provide misleading information.

And unlike CSI on the television, or other cop shows and movies, forensic toxicologists aren’t using microscopes to do their work.

“The work we do all involves extracting the blood or chemicals in the blood with other chemicals,” McIntyre said. “We have to extract it, clean it up and then put it on the instrumentation. “

The instruments? There’s gas chromatography, which involves separating chemicals based on the speed that they move in liquid or gas (such as nitrogen).

Then, there’s Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay — better known as ELISA — testing done in test tubes to determine the presence of specific antigens (toxins) or antibodies (which the body will create to fight toxins). And then there’s mass spectrometry, which measures the weight of atoms and molecules.

As if that wasn’t complicated enough, toxicology is just one factor examined when figuring out how someone died. It can take several weeks to determine cause of death, depending on the complexity of the case.

Below: Dr. Iain McIntyre of the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s office explains what's involved when toxicology tests are performed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=PqJJoDZDj0A

Iain M. McIntyre, Ph.D.

Forensic Toxicology Consultant and Expert Witness