Bath Salts Epidemic

In a gory scene out of a horror movie, a naked man was found eating the face of another man in Miami on May 26th. It is suspected by police that the 31 year old Rudy Eugene was on a designer drug known as “bath salts” and this drug is what caused the psychotic episode.

A Miami police officer shot Rudy Eugene 4 times before cannibalistic psychosis was ended.

While the Miami police have not officially concluded that Eugene was on “bath salts,” experts confirm he was exhibiting the tell tale signs of someone high on the drug. Some symptoms of this drug include perception of super human strength, paranoia, hallucinations, extreme violence, and nudity as a result of the increased body temperature that would cause most people’s organs to fail.

Armando Aguilar referred to people on this drug as a “walking dead person.”

The victim was 65 year old Ronald Poppo, a homeless man, who lost 75 percent of his face in this brutal attack.

Dr. Paul Adams is a physician at the Jackson Memorial Rider Trauma Center in Miami where the victim is being treated. Dr. Adams says that he is seeing more and more instances where virtually uncontrollable patients showing signs of psychosis are being brought in.

"You can call it the new LSD. It's a recreational drug. They [patients] seem to be unaware of their surroundings. They are not rational, very aggressive and are stronger than they usually are. In the emergency room it usually takes four to five people to control them, and we have had a couple of people breaking out of restraints," says Adams.

In 2011, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency banned for a year the possession and sale of 3 of the chemicals used to make the psychotic drug.

The drug resembles the salts one would use to put in a bath, and it can be injected, swallowed or smoked. It is far less expensive than other drugs and is able to be made in a home kitchen.

Since this drug is new, police are unsure how to handle it. Last week the Senate passed a FDA bill that will outlaw the active ingredients mephedrone, methylenedioxyprovalerone (MDPV) and methylone as well as other drugs.

Due to the law only banning specific chemical combinations, chemists have been altering the makeup of these drugs to keep them technically legal.

Rudy Eugene was killed by police during the attack and Ronald Poppo remains in the hospital in critical condition.