# "Bath Salts" and real bath salts
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bath-salts-and-real-bath-salts/625186
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [June 14, 2012, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bath-salts-and-real-bath-salts/625186 "2012-06-14T23:55:36Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2012, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bath-salts-and-real-bath-salts/625186/1 "2012-06-14T23:55:36Z")
So are sellers of actual for-your-bathtub bath salts having any trouble due to the now-ubiquitous name for the illegal drug?
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### Author:  [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2012, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bath-salts-and-real-bath-salts/625186/2 "2012-06-15T00:37:19Z")
> [@Lumpy](#):
>
> So are sellers of actual for-your-bathtub bath salts having any trouble due to the now-ubiquitous name for the illegal drug?
I doubt it, because they are completely different products, with completely different packaging, at completely different price points, sold through completely different venues to completely different customers.
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### Author:  [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2012, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bath-salts-and-real-bath-salts/625186/3 "2012-06-15T03:54:22Z")
More to the point, are some morons going to the store and buying bath salts, hoping to get high on them?
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### Author:  [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2012, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bath-salts-and-real-bath-salts/625186/4 "2012-06-15T04:39:32Z")
I think it was an NPR story. The interested parties in the legal ‘bath salt’ products are pretty upset about the recent coverage and are reporting a significant drop in sales citing people’s fear they might experience effect attributed to the illegal drug ‘bath salts’
It would appear based on their complaints they feel the news media has not been clear the drug and the product are different things and have no association beyond name.
If this resulted in an increase in sales I doubt they’d be saying anything and would just be counting their good fortune selling additional product to wannabe drug addicts.
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### Author:  [@IceQube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IceQube)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2012, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bath-salts-and-real-bath-salts/625186/5 "2012-06-15T04:46:42Z")
Why are these drugs called “bath salts”?
Mind you, the common name had me confused for several months … were my friends sending me gifts … or illegal drugs?
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### Author:  [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2012, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bath-salts-and-real-bath-salts/625186/6 "2012-06-15T05:04:00Z")
[White Rush.](http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/10/latest-enemy-no-1-in-street-drug-world-bath-salts.html)
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### Author:  [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2012, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bath-salts-and-real-bath-salts/625186/7 "2012-06-15T05:04:42Z")
> [@FatBaldGuy](#):
>
> More to the point, are some morons going to the store and buying bath salts, hoping to get high on them?
I did read this [xojane blog post](http://www.xojane.com/beauty/snorting-bath-salts) a while ago that featured snorting of actual bath salts…
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### Author:  [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2012, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bath-salts-and-real-bath-salts/625186/8 "2012-06-15T05:29:36Z")
> [@IceQube](#):
>
> Why are these drugs called “bath salts”?
>
> Mind you, the common name had me confused for several months … were my friends sending me gifts … or illegal drugs?
They are called that as a fig-leaf cover in order to sell the product, since they are labeled as “not intended for human consumption” even though that IS what they are intended for. The designer drugs contained in them aren’t/weren’t illegal or regulated, but they would be if they were labeled for human consumption. So they called them bath-salts because they somewhat resemble them, but they could have called them any number of things.
It’s similar to the herbal marijuana substitutes that are labeled as either incense or potpourri - as long as the ingredients aren’t (yet) regulated and they aren’t labeled for human consumption, they can get away with selling the stuff until the laws catch up. (Then they just slightly modify the chemistry to make a new compound that isn’t illegal, then rinse and repeat.)
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### Author:  [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2012, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bath-salts-and-real-bath-salts/625186/9 "2012-06-15T06:28:46Z")
> [@IceQube](#):
>
> Why are these drugs called “bath salts”?
>
> Mind you, the common name had me confused for several months … were my friends sending me gifts … or illegal drugs?
It’s like synthetic marijuana (or “marijuana”) being sold as “incense.”
ETA: wasn’t “Bliss” the drug from a very heavy handed Captain Planet episode?
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### Author:  [@Gukumatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gukumatz)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2012, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bath-salts-and-real-bath-salts/625186/10 "2012-06-15T06:46:41Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#):
>
> [White Rush.](http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/10/latest-enemy-no-1-in-street-drug-world-bath-salts.html)
A refreshingly frank interview. Thanks, I’ve been curious. Great quote by the way:
> [@](#):
>
> [Question] **Is there ever a way to actually get ahead of this recreational drug market?**
>
> […]We had a kid recently who said he had dipped his cigarette in liquid rat poison. After he was stabilized we asked him why. He told us that he didn’t know if it would cause a buzz, but if it did, he’d be the first. It’s hard to get ahead of that.
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### Author:  [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2012, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bath-salts-and-real-bath-salts/625186/11 "2012-06-15T10:34:12Z")
> [@IceQube](#):
>
> Why are these drugs called “bath salts”?
[Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Designer_drug#Inaccurate_descriptions) says:
> [@](#):
>
> In the UK to avoid being controlled by the Medicines Act, designer drugs such as mephedrone have been described as “bath salts” or “plant food”, despite the compounds having no history of being used for these purposes.
But that doesn’t really answer the question. Was there some reason to choose this particular name? Or was it randomly chosen, and they might as well have called it “rat poison” or something?
(PS: I get the impression from this thread that these drugs are actually manufactured, labeled, and sold in regular stores, with the “bath salt” label being used to skirt the anti-drug laws. Is that correct? I didn’t realize that, and have presumed that it was just another illegal drug sold surreptitiously like other illegal drugs, but they needed a name for it – like “crack” needed a name – and they chose “bath salts” for some stupid reason.)
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### Author:  [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2012, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bath-salts-and-real-bath-salts/625186/12 "2012-06-15T12:35:23Z")
Well, people using “bath salts” of both varieties do seem to end up naked …
Si
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### Author:  [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2012, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bath-salts-and-real-bath-salts/625186/13 "2012-06-15T15:33:12Z")
So do sellers of bath salts give a reason why they’re selling them, since the only real reason is illegitimate?
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### Author:  [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2012, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bath-salts-and-real-bath-salts/625186/14 "2012-06-15T16:24:31Z")
> [@boytyperanma](#):
>
> …It would appear based on their complaints they feel the news media has not been clear the drug and the product are different things and have no association beyond name…
I have to admit, when I first starting hearing news stories about the drugs, I was confused because they just said “Bath Salts”…not “the drug called Bath Salts” or anything to clarify what it was.
So after a disappointing trip to Bed, Bath, and Beyond, I figured things out.
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2012, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bath-salts-and-real-bath-salts/625186/15 "2012-06-15T16:33:55Z")
> [@sciurophobic](#):
>
> So do sellers of bath salts give a reason why they’re selling them, since the only real reason is illegitimate?
Demand?
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### Author:  [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2012, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bath-salts-and-real-bath-salts/625186/16 "2012-06-15T17:06:44Z")
> [@kayaker](#):
>
> Demand?
Demand for what, if they claim they’re not being sold for human consumption?
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2012, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bath-salts-and-real-bath-salts/625186/17 "2012-06-15T17:08:30Z")
> [@sciurophobic](#):
>
> Demand for what, if they claim they’re not being sold for human consumption?
Demand for a product that is not (yet) illegal.
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### Author:  [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2012, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bath-salts-and-real-bath-salts/625186/18 "2012-06-15T17:29:48Z")
> [@lost4life](#):
>
> I have to admit, when I first starting hearing news stories about the drugs, I was confused because they just said “Bath Salts”…not “the drug called Bath Salts” or anything to clarify what it was.
>
> So after a disappointing trip to Bed, Bath, and Beyond, I figured things out.
I was confused too. I thought people were actually finding some way to use real bath salts to get high.
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### Author:  [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2012, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bath-salts-and-real-bath-salts/625186/19 "2012-06-15T20:28:49Z")
> [@sciurophobic](#):
>
> Demand for what, if they claim they’re not being sold for human consumption?
I can’t speak to bath salts since I’ve never even seen them sold, but for fake pot “incense,” I know they’d keep the pretense that it was been sold as a fragrance. Maybe with a wink and a nod. Despite the fact that the products were 100% useless for this purpose.
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### Author:  [@Lionne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lionne)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2012, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bath-salts-and-real-bath-salts/625186/20 "2012-06-15T20:34:23Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#):
>
> I was confused too. I thought people were actually finding some way to use real bath salts to get high.
Ditto. This thread has fought my ignorance.
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