Sherry Anderson doesn't understand why bath salts, a drug that she calls dangerous and scary, can still be purchased legally in Horry County, and around the state and country.
Anderson told NewsChannel 15 her 31-year-old son recently went on a bath salts binge that had serious effects on his health. He disappeared from his home for nearly a week, she said, causing his wife to file a missing person complaint about him with police.
"No phone calls, no communication with the family, nothing. Nothing whatsoever," Anderson said. "And then, when he did show up, my husband went to him at his home and we were told then that it was bath salts."
Anderson had heard of bath salts before, but wasn't fully aware of its dangers. "I thought it was the stuff that you put in the tub to get soft. I had no idea that it was a drug like that."
Anderson said her son told the family that he suffered hallucinations and was angry and agitated while under the influence of the stimulant. "Apparently, he stayed up almost 4 days straight, not eating, not taking care of himself. He lost probably between 20 and 25 pounds."
Last month, the United States Drug Enforcement Administration added the three synthetic stimulants that make up the drug commonly known as bath salts to its list of controlled substances. The action will make possessing or selling the chemicals illegal for a year, while the DEA considers a permanent ban.
But the DEA's action came with a 30-day waiting period and has not yet taken effect. Anderson said local and state authorities should be taking action now, instead of waiting for the federal ban to kick in. "Everybody seems to be waiting on somebody else in Horry County, when other counties have acted swiftly, removing it from shelves and making it where you can't have it in the schools."
Horry County council considered a bath salts ban last month but did not approve it. County spokesperson Lisa Bourcier said, until the federal ban takes effect, any local action would only be a civil offense, with smaller fines and shorter sentences than a criminal charge. "If something is not illegal, it's hard to make that case in court," Bourcier said. The local bans also don't prevent anyone from being able to purchase it over the internet, she added, and the federal ban should take effect "any day now."
While local authorities wait for the federal prohibition to be official, just the announcement that the ban would happen has an impact on commerce, Bourcier said, taking much of the drug off the street. "People are not sitting there buying it in bulk, knowing that they can't sell it in their stores."
All that comes as little comfort to Anderson, who worries that the drug is still on convenience store shelves, with no restrictions or age limits on its purchase. "I would like to see it banned, destroyed, out of the stores where people can't get it. Oh, God, I just can't imagine a 12-year-old child going through what my 31-year-old son went through."
Anderson acknowledges that her son has had drug problems before. "He's set up to go into rehab and hopefully that'll happen soon and we can pull through this," she said.
In the meantime, she said Horry County and state authorities should be doing more to remove bath salts from store shelves. She said her son tried it only because it was cheap and easy to obtain.
"It's legal, that's the biggest thing. You can go anywhere and buy it. It's not like you have to go find a drug dealer hidden in the closet on some dark corner or anything. You can just go in public to the store and ask for it and receive it."
