Don’t get us wrong. Bama Fact Check is against the use of addictive drugs. Snorting random consumer products is a good way to get yourself a Darwin Award.
But something about the news accounts of the bath salt phenomenon made our fact-checking feelers go up. Teens who think they can fly after using drugs? A new drug that’s right up there with heroin and cocaine? Users who go crazy and have “superhuman strength?” We could feel all the old standards of drug war propaganda being trotted out. As a fact-checking organization, we want actual, direct accounts -- not friend-of-a-friend anecdotes and guesswork. Who thought they could fly, and where?
Well, good journalism to the rescue. The Washington Post has an excellent article on the bath salt phenomenon, complete with accounts from actual former users and their families, plus an explanation of the active chemical involved, and hard numbers on emergency room admissions for the drug. It won’t have you looking for bath-salt-snorting zombies under your bed, but it makes a pretty good case.
Funny, how the facts can do that.
