FOLLOW-UP TO MIAMI “ZOMBIE ATTACK”

A few days back I reported the incident in Miami when one man, subsequently gunned down by police, attacked another man who was homeless and savagely gnawed on his face. Scores of articles appeared in my Google Alerts about “Miami’s Zombie Apocalypse.”

So, okay, that’s a little over-the-top. But given our media these days, who can be surprised?

Anyway, it turns out, the “zombie” in question, one Rudy Eugene, was high on…wait for it…bath salts! That’s right bath salts. One article called it the “new over the bodega counter drug.”

The Miami police announced it so it’s more than simple scandal mongering. The cops told the media that the bath salts cause people “to go completely insane and become very violent.”

While illegal in several states, bath salts are “particularly insidious because there is no federal ban on them.”

“Despite the harmless name of the drug, the chemical makeup is complex and toxic. The DEA classifies bath salts in the same group as mescaline, a mind altering compound not dissimilar to LSD.”

However, unlike LSD, bath salts “typically create intense sensations of anger and agitation, increased heart rate and blood pressure (and) LSD-like delusions and hallucinations.”

An article in New York Magazine last year clarified the impact of bath salts. Selling for $25 to $50 per 250 to 500 milligram jars, the bath salts are sold :in “convenience stores, discount tobacco outlets, gas stations, pawnshops, tattoo parlors, truck stops,” according to the DEA. To get around regulations, the jars are marked “not for human consumption.”

The salts are “snorted; less regularly, injected, smoked, atomized, or swallowed.” Yummy, eh!

The initial rush is compared “to the surge of positive energy triggered by cocaine.” However, hallucinations follow during a “scarily lingering high” that can last for as much as 48 hours and, one user reported taking 10 days to feel normal again. After the initial dose, the urge to “re-dose” is reported to be incredibly powerful.

It’s reported that side effects are “mild,” unless of course, you start eating other people.