In late January, panic ensued over the use of bath salts as a synthetic and legal version of cocaine. While sold under the guise of a salty bath enhancer, these exotic powders have become a substance for prime abuse among teenagers, local and otherwise, that can take you on quite the trip – or take your life.

The bath salts, as they are labeled in stores, contain mephedrone, a synthetic stimulant that can be smoked, snorted, ingested or injected from the capsules that contain the whitish powder. The effects, however, lead to the same symptoms as long-term meth use, says The Office of National Drug Control Policy’s Director Gil Kerlikowske.

While other synthetic drugs such as K-2 have seen laws going by that ban them on sight, according to the ONDCP, the bath salts – often sold under the name Vanilla Sky, Red Dove or Ivory Wave – remain completely legal in most of the United States, being sold at head shops and online without worry.

While the bath salts remain legally sold, a New York senator by the name of Charles Schumer wishes to stop it all with a swift ban on the materials. The ban has been proved successful in Florida and Louisiana, the only two states to have banned the sale of the substance as of February 8, reports CNN.

The effects of the bath salts lead to emergency room visits across the States, leaving the doctors with no idea what they were dealing with before their respective Poison Control Centers were contacted.

In mid-January, New Orleans, LA local news reported that 21-year-old New Orleans man Dickie Sanders encountered the negative effects of the salts, catching the attention of several news outlets both locally and nationally. Sanders fell into a world of paranoia and by the end of his trip that night, he made a swift cut ear-to-ear across his throat – in front of his own father and sister.

Sanders survived through the night, but by the time morning arose, he had found a .22 caliber rifle and shot himself in the head. All this from a bad trip on a salt that remains legal throughout the majority of the states. “You don’t get high on it; you go crazy,” Sander’s father told to NOLA.

The widespread use of the salts has lead to a wide array of calls concerning people who have taken in the drugs. Ranging from users who have ripped the back of squad cars apart with their teeth to users who’ve chased their mothers with machetes – it all adds up to quite the “I thought I’ve seen everything” kind of day.

But what leads up to all this? Obviously someone has to purchase the salts somewhere. But… where? And that, my friends, is what sent me on a wild goose chase throughout several parts of Minneapolis. First stop? The Electric Fetus.

“People come in here asking for, well, you know, bath salts. I direct them to that section and they come back like ‘No, man, that’s not what I mean,”  said a female employee behind the Jewelry desk at the independent music store’s Minneapolis establishment.

“I don’t know any about them unfortunately,” affirmed the gentlemen working behind the desk where the glass pipes were sold. “We haven’t had many people call about them, so I unfortunately don’t know anything about them.”

“I would say the best place to go would be the guys down at Know-Name Records, and I believe that they carry them if I’m not mistaken. Better talk to someone like that who knows what they’re talking about,” concluded the pipe-selling gentleman.

So, with the information I got from The Electric Fetus employees, I headed out to my new lead – Know-Name Records, a popular music store destination for South students in South Minneapolis.

“People don’t know about this stuff here, and people don’t want to know!” laughed the Know-Name employee. “The people seem to think it’s a big thing. If it’s something that happens in Missouri, people think it’s all around, when really, it’s not.”

Without much actual information on the salts or sales of them, I left empty-handed with nothing more than contradicting words around town. Out of leads, I headed to the Piecemaker Head Shop just outside Uptown Minneapolis, with hope of any new words. What I got was nothing out of the ordinary, as I’ve come to learn.

“We don’t sell it here,” said the shop’s owner. “It’s dangerous stuff. The only place I could possibly think of that would sell it is Sexworld.”

Decidedly ending my snipe hunt around Minneapolis upon the mentioning of Sexworld, it would seem that finding any useful information on the salts is just about as hard as finding the salts themselves. So where are people getting a hold of the stuff? Well, it’s the world wide web.

With the internet in prime availability to nearly anyone, it allows the sales of such materials to go by rather unnoticed, leaving teenagers with access to, well, anything.

The accessibility of the drugs leaves students with the opportunity to use them on school property. If a student should be caught under the influence, there is a standard procedure. 

“If [the student] is obviously under the influence, then, you know, we send them to an emergency room,” said South nurse Merrilee Sullivan. “If we don’t know for sure, but they show signs, like an increased heartbeat or falling over themselves, then we call 911 on them.”

But with the sometimes violent effects of the bath salts, students under the influence may lead to more than just loud disruptive behavior. “If a student gets violent, the Police Liaison comes in and [if needed] takes them to the emergency room,” confirmed Sullivan.

All these stories of drug use among teens may sound repetitive, but there seems to be a new thing that kids are getting high off of everyday. 

Back in 2010, many sources such as Live Science reported on synthetic cannabis by the name of K-2. It was a prime target of teenagers seeking a legal high for the time being. Then as the year went on, K-2 became illegal in Kansas, Mississippi and many other states, while to this date, several more are pondering legislation.

Once K-2 was out of the picture, bath salts went in. Its an endless cycle of “out with the old, in with the new” and rains down curiosity among eager teenage buyers.

But as the saying goes, curiosity killed the cat – and these new bath salts, such as Hurricane Charlie and White Lightning, have proven to do just that. To people, that is. Not cats.