An emergency bill strengthening penalties for the sale and possession of the synthetic drugs commonly referred to as “bath salts” passed last week 35-0 in the state Senate and 137-0 in the House.
It was a common-sense move for legislators, as it added teeth to laws regarding the drugs, which have proven to be at least as dangerous as cocaine and heroin, if not nearly as prevalent.
Part of the reason bath salts are growing in popularity is the ease in which they are acquired and the lack of a stigma associated with more familiar illegal drugs. The approval of the bill – which changed possession of bath salts from a civil penalty to a class D crime, trafficking from a class E misdemeanor to a class B felony, and aggravated trafficking from a class C to a class A felony – addresses both of those issues.
Lawmakers should remember last week’s unanimity when voting in the future on initiatives for treating addicts. If we want to call it a war on drugs, it is a war that should be fought from the demand side, by giving addicts the resources to recover and become meaningful contributors to society.
Bath salts are awful, to be sure. In a short amount of time, they have managed to destroy many lives here in Maine. The drugs have pushed people to the point of psychosis, causing hallucinations and delusions that can have dangerous, and even deadly, consequences. But they are just the latest in what is sure to be a never-ending string of synthetic drugs, created to subvert the law and sold online to users looking for any cheap and easy way to get high.
A few months before reports of bath salts appeared in Maine, police were warning people about the dangers of “K2” and “Spice,” described as a synthetic marijuana. The drugs were blamed for causing severe depression in some users, to the point of suicide in a small number of cases. The drugs were being sold online and over the counter before they were outlawed, at which point users moved on to the next substance.
Chemists will continue to create substances that circumvent the law, and Internet sales mean those substances can be shipped from anywhere to anywhere. The Legislature, and fellow lawmakers across the country, could react to each one, passing laws as they arise.
Or they could take a more meaningful and productive tack, and help fight addiction at its root causes, so that society is not as vulnerable to the next substance du jour.
Ben Bragdon is the managing editor of Current Publiishing. He can be reached at bbragdon@keepmecurrent.com or followed on Twitter.
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