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Mephedrone ("Bath Salts") Banned in Kentucky

Submitted by Phillip Smith on (Issue #677)
Drug War Issues

Kentucky has become the latest state to ban the synthetic stimulants mephedrone and MDPV, which are commonly marketed as bath salts. Gov. Steve Beshear has signed into law House Bill 121, which makes possession of the substances a Class B misdemeanor and manufacturing or trafficking in them a Class A misdemeanor.

No new legal drugs for you, Kentucky! (Image via Wikimedia.org)
The drugs are reported to have effects similar to cocaine, ecstasy, or methamphetamine. Poison control centers and hospital emergency rooms have reported an increasing number of incidents involving people using them.

The drugs have been banned in a handful of states, but are not currently illegal under federal law.

"This bill gives law enforcement another tool to protect Kentuckians from substances that are engineered specifically to mimic illegal dangerous drugs and allows Kentucky to keep pace with an ever-changing drug market," Gov. Beshear said.

Kentucky passed a law banning synthetic cannabinoids last year. This year's mephedrone ban also adds new chemicals to the list of banned cannabinoids to reflect chemicals developed since that law was passed.

Permission to Reprint: This content is licensed under a modified Creative Commons Attribution license. Content of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.

Comments

Caregiver givi… (not verified)

Kentucky passed a law banning synthetic cannabinoids last year?  So, then the pharmaceutical drug Marinol (Fake THC approved by the same Feds that classify Cannabis as Schedule 1) is banned there? OR does this article mean to say that synthetic Cannabinoid agonists are banned like the research chemical jwh-018 (k2, spice) which has created more casualities due to the Farce on Drugs.

Mon, 03/28/2011 - 5:10am Permalink
tpizzle (not verified)

has the bill changed just recently or what cuz iv herd all kinds of stuff that it has

Mon, 11/07/2011 - 3:19am Permalink
softy698 (not verified)

If they have only just been made illegal, then why were the Justice four sent too prison? I thought this meant it must always have been illegal?

Wed, 01/11/2012 - 6:45am Permalink

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