Florida Head Shops

Vigilance is Key to 'Bath Salt' Drug Ban, Officials Say

Though the state of Florida recently banned them, experts say “bath salts” – the latest drug that users are taking to get high - will probably never totally disappear.

They may be around in one form or another, experts say, as companies that manufacture the drug will find ways to get around the state’s ban and put them back into the head shops and convenience stores at which they had been legally purchased. Or by hawking them over the Internet.

Dr. Cynthia Lewis-Younger, managing director of the Poison Control Center in Tampa , says that unfortunately, it’s already true. She noted that since the ban was put in place in January, the majority of the 106 reported cases to all three of Florida’s poison control centers occurred after that date, within the past six months. Six of them occurred in Hillsborough County.

“That’s just the sickest of the sick,” she said. “The people who have taken the drug and don’t feel that bad won’t be seeking help, so the number of users is much higher.”

Also known on the street as “fake cocaine,” the synthetic drug is a far cry from the bath salts that are actually meant for your bath. Manufacturers of the drug gave them that name along with a “not for human consumption” label on them to skirt U.S. Food and Drug Administration guidelines, according to experts. They’ve further disguised their intended use by giving them names like “Vanilla Sky” and “Bliss."

But the effects they have on users is anything but blissful. The active ingredient in most of them is a substance called MDPV, a stimulant that mimics the effect of illegal drugs like crystal meth and cocaine.

A Local and National Issue

People who have been hospitalized are often reported to exhibit violent behavior and suffer hallucinations. “People are dying all around the country from this,” Lewis-Younger said. “They get suicidal, or so violent that law enforcement gets involved.”

Jarious McGhee, 23, was Tampa’s latest resident to reportedly die from ingesting bath salts. Police apprehended him at the intersection of Dale Mabry and Kennedy Boulevard, after witnesses reported him ranting, singing and beating on cars. He later died in an area hospital.

According to a recent news report about McGhee’s death, a doctor at the hospital concluded without a doubt that McGhee died from taking bath salts, saying the drug was found in all of his tissue samples taken at his autopsy.

Feds Drop Drug Charges Against South Florida Headshops

Feds Drop Drug Charges Against South Florida Headshops

Federal agents dubbed the case “Operation Cedar Sweep,” zeroing in on South Florida head-shop owners of mostly Lebanese descent. Some were suspected of selling “cut” for cocaine and sending profits to the Middle East for possible terrorist activities.

But after a two-year FBI investigation with undercover police officers, Miami federal prosecutors lacked evidence to make terrorism support cases. And this week, prosecutors also decided to drop drug-related charges against 27 defendants, many of whom had been detained since their arrests early this year.

“Dropping charges against a few defendants is not that unusual,” said attorney David Weinstein, former chief of the narcotics and national security sections at the U.S. attorney’s office in Miami, who was not involved in the Cedar Sweep probe. “Dropping charges against 27 defendants connected together in one investigation is highly unusual.” The U.S. attorney’s office, which traditionally does not explain why it drops charges, issued a statement, saying “new information surfaced that, in our discretion, made it appropriate to dismiss the charges.”

“At this time, I cannot provide further details of what that information entailed, as it is not in the public record,” said Alicia Valle, special counsel to the U.S. attorney.

She described the investigation as “Operation Clear Cut” in an email to The Miami Herald — not “Operation Cedar Sweep,” which defense attorneys say refers to the Lebanese national tree and a symbol that appears prominently on its flag.

In February, the U.S. attorney’s office issued a press release crediting the investigative work of nearly a dozen federal and local enforcement agencies that led to the 13 narcotics-related indictments of 27 defendants, all owners or employees of head shops in South Florida. Head shops, throwbacks to the 1960′s, sell dope paraphernalia such as rolling papers, bongs and cocaine compressors.

Among the targeted shops: Mushroom Novelty & Gifts, Hip Hop Gift Shop and Rainbow 7 in Miami-Dade, as well as head-shop operators at the Oakland Park Flea Market in Broward.

The defendants were accused of selling “cut” — mixtures containing regulated pharmaceutical products such as lidocaine, tetracocaine or benzocaine — to drug dealers who would use it to bolster their production of cocaine or heroine to maximize street profits.

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