New York State recently banned the salts, which are sold online and in some small convenience stores. There have been hundreds of hospitalizations linked to the use of these bath salts throughout the nation, and the bans may become widespread.

New York’s Health Commissioner Nirav Shah initiated the ban in New York, saying the products are being sold as bath salts to mask their true purpose of providing an amphetamine-like high. Shah is urging local officials to remove the products from shelves as quickly as possible.

The bath salts are sold under various names, such as Ivory Wave, Red Dove, Snow Leopard, Tranquility, Vanilla Sky, Zoom, and White Lightening, and are typically snorted, smoked, injected, and even mixed with water as a beverage. Doctors say they can cause chest pains, delusions, hallucinations, high blood pressure, paranoia, suicidal behavior, and violent behavior.

Users have described the "trips" as harrowing, including long bouts of psychosis. Once a user arrives at the emergency room, the effects are not controllable with normal sedatives, even in high doses. Despite these scary "trips," the cravings for the substance are so intense that people often use again.

And although all the products have the same basic chemical structure, even small changes in the chemical composition can lead to different side effects, which can be dangerous.

Louisiana has already banned the products, and they have been classified as Schedule I substances, in the same class as heroin. Mississippi and Kentucky are also working on bans.

The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) is looking into getting a 12-month emergency rule to control the substances federally.

Sources: Health Day News, Amanda Gardner, Hallucinogens Legally Sold as ”Bath Salts”a New Threat, February 4, 2011; Medical News Today, Bath Salts That Cause Hallucinations, Paranoia And Delusions Banned In New York State, May 24, 2011

The problem is, as soon as one drug is taken off the market, another one sprouts up in its place. The latest designer drug that is drawing attention is 2-C-E. 2-C-E is a man-made hallucinogen that produces effects similar to Ecstasy or LSD. It is one molecule different from its illegal cousin, 2C-B. Because 2-C-E is composed of some controlled substances and some which are not, at the present time, it is perfectly legal. For now….that is.

2-C-E has recently been implicated in the death of one 19-year-old male, Trevor Robinson, as well as the hospitalization of 10 others. All eleven Minnesota youngsters aged 16 to 21 overdosed on the drug and were rushed to the hospital. The group was partying, celebrating spring break when their merriment turned deadly. Trevor was placed on life support, but unfortunately, didn’t make it. The group admitted to purchasing the drug legally online.

The danger with these new drug trends is multi-faceted. First, because drugs such as these are so new, it is not known how they will react with other medications such as Ritalin that a teen might be taking for ADD. Second, their effects are not felt immediately, which may cause the person taking them to ingest excessive amounts, thinking they are not getting high enough, fast enough. This increases the risk of overdose because by the time they feel high, these kids have already consumed too much of the drug, and this is what happened in Minnesota.

People have the misconception that just because something is legal, it must be safe. This is clearly not the case. Also, obtaining the drug online is quite dangerous as doses and purity levels could be quite dubious. Another problem is that 2-C-E can stay in the system for up to 12 hours, so partying youth might feel like they are no longer impacted by the drug and decide to start drinking alcohol before the drug is fully out of their body. The effects when mixed with alcohol are unknown.

CBS News Medical Correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton says that this is the sort of drug that was present at raves over a decade ago. The way to attack this trend is not to keep fighting the insurgence of new drugs that are hitting the market. We have to change the attitudes and belief systems that today’s youth hold towards drug use as a whole. Maybe we need to bring back the War on Drugs campaign from the 80′s so today’s teens know the true dangers of these substances and can be mentally equipped to "Just Say No."

The 2008 Partnership Attitude Tracking Study (PATS), released early this year by The Partnership for a Drug-Free America points out that lifetime use of LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide), ketamine, and GHB remained stable in 2008. Some 7 percent of those surveyed reported ever having used LSD, versus 5 percent for ketamine. In actual numbers, this translates to 1.6 million teens who had tried LSD and 1.2 million for ketamine.

More troubling in the PATS study is the perception among 61 percent of teens surveyed that prescription drugs are easier to get than illegal drugs.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), in a recent research report, “Hallucinogens and Dissociative Drugs,” states that use of LSD and hallucinogenic drugs has decreased among secondary students since 1998, but that ketamine and LSD are increasing in popularity among older teens and young adults at dance clubs and all-night raves.

In the first clinical trials of hallucinogenic or psychedelic drugs since the 1970s, Swiss scientists are treating terminally ill patients in an attempt to help them deal with their impending death and improve their remaining quality of life. In another recently-completed clinical trial conducted by scientists at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, psilocybin was used to help terminally-ill cancer patients come to terms with their illness.

What hallucinogens are

Hallucinogens are powerful, mind-altering substances. These include LSD, psilocybin (in certain types of mushrooms), mescaline (in the peyote cactus), and ibogaine. Hallucinogens cause hallucinations in users- that is, people see and hear things that aren’t there, or feel sensations that don’t exist, feel a distorted sense of reality, and powerful mood swings. LSD is the drug that most people identify with a hallucinogen.

Common street names

On the street, you’ll hear names for LSD like acid, back breaker, battery acid, blotter, blotter acid, boomers, doses, dots, Elvis, loony tunes, Lucy in the sky with diamonds, microdots, pane, paper acid, sugar, sugar cubes, superman, trip, window glass, window pane, yellow sunshine, yellow stars and Zen.

Street names for psilocybin include blue meanies, goldens, liberty caps, magic mushrooms, magics, mushies, ‘shrooms, and liberty caps.

Mescaline carries names on the street such as buttons, cactus, cactus buttons, cactus head, chief (a mixture of LSD and mescaline), love flipping (combining mescaline and MDMA), love trip, mesc, mescal, meze, mezc, moon, peyote, snackies (MDMA with mescaline), and topi.

How to identify hallucinogens

LSD is typically sold as a liquid that is often packaged in small bottles originally designed to hold breath freshening drops. The liquid LSD is applied to tablets, squares of gelatin, sugar cubes or blotter paper.

Psilocybin can appear as dried mushrooms or crushed into a powder in capsules. There’s also synthetically-made psilocybin that’s a white crystalline powder placed into capsules, tablets or liquid.

At its most pure, mescaline appears as a white crystalline powder. It’s also made synthetically and used in various colors of capsules and pills.

How hallucinogens are used

LSD is usually taken orally, and has a slightly bitter taste. It can be swallowed, sniffed, injected and snorted, and even rubbed on the skin in liquid form.

Psilocybin (magic mushrooms) can be eaten raw, used in various food recipes and even brewed into tea.

Mescaline is usually swallowed, although it is also chewed or smoked.

Effects of hallucinogens

According to the NIDA, hallucinogens effects are caused by the disruption of the interaction of nerve cells and the neurotransmitter serotonin. The serotonin system, distributed throughout the spinal column and brain, acts to control the behavioral, regulatory and perceptual systems in the body. These include sensory perception, body temperature, hunger, mood, muscle control, and sexual behavior.

The effects of hallucinogens vary by user, their tolerance for the drug, and amount ingested. People take them in a deliberate attempt to feel euphoric, to relax, and feel happiness and satisfaction, to get away from their problems, to have a heightened sense of awareness and perception. But there are many unwanted side-effects as well. Some users of LSD, for example, report being terrified, experience a fear of losing control, going insane or dying. Other LSD users feel a profound sense of despair.

Why hallucinogens are bad for you

Prolonged and repeated use of hallucinogens can result in numerous consequences, some of which are potentially fatal:

• Agitation and anxiety

• Dizziness

• Impaired coordination

• Increased body temperature, sweating that can lead to chills

• Increased blood pressure

• Increased rapid heart beat

• Increased blood pressure

• Fatal accidents while under the influence of the drug, particularly LSD

• Flashbacks – particularly with LSD use, which can occur long after the drug is ingested

• Longstanding psychoses – particularly schizophrenia or severe bouts of depression

• Nausea and vomiting

• Panic attacks, paranois

• Thoughts of suicide or attempts to commit suicide

Addicting?

LSD, psilocybin and mescaline are not considered to be addictive, but users can develop a tolerance for them, thus requiring more frequent and larger doses to achieve the same high. They also do not produce the same drug-seeking behavior in abusers as methamphetamine, heroin and cocaine.

According to the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC), LSD is also illegal, and is classified as a Schedule I substance under the Controlled Substances Act. Psilocybin and mescaline are also Schedule I substances and, therefore, illegal in the U.S.