Maybe we’re a little late to the game but all this talk of bath salts in the last few weeks has us totally perplexed. The drug’s main ingredient is a chemical called Methylenedioxpyrovalerone (MDPV) and hospitals in the US are struggling to deal with the influx of patients showing symptoms of extreme psychosis. The substance was banned in Ireland in 2010 but the side effects of the drug have come right to the forefront of the American media in recent weeks. The drug has stolen headlines worldwide and there is no need to wonder why.

Last week, we heard about the New York mother who punched and choked her toddler before running naked through the streets as police chased her. When Tasered the woman suffer a cardiac arrest and later died. Needless to say she is believed to have been high on the amphetamine, which is becoming better known as “the new LSD.” We were shocked when we read about Denver woman, Carmen Tisch who peed on a painting worth forty million dollars after she ingested bath salts and let’s not forget Robert William White who last week beat up an elderly woman with a shovel.

We are mystified as to why anyone would want to purchase this terrifying substance but as it is widely available in petrol stations and other convenience stores across the USA we can see how people might be tempted to achieve a high, which is both legal and easily accessible.

It has been suggested that the highly addictive drug can even cause cannibalism. Despite all of the news stories, the most worrying thing we have come across this week is a video of a man high on bath salts in the back of a police car. His reaction to the drug is the scariest video we’ve seen on Youtube in a while. We’ve posted it below. Skip forward to 56 seconds.