SandBoxBlogs: Denver Post "'Bath salt' drugs called emerging threat in Colo"

REMA RAHMAN:
"DENVER—The strangulation death of a 19-year-old Colorado man who authorities say had ingested a synthetic drug could be an indication of the emerging threat posed by such compounds, a federal drug agent said Friday.

Investigators believe Daniel J. Richards of Grand Junction was acting violently under the influence of the drug called Alpha-PVP on April 10 and was strangled when his friends tried to subdue him.

Friends took Richards to a hospital, and he died a few days later when he was taken off life support, police said.

Toxicology tests found Alpha-PVP in Richards' body, Mesa County Chief Deputy Coroner Kim Hollingshead said. He ruled the death a homicide......

>......Hollingshead and Jim Schrant, an agent with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, believe Richards' death is the first involving bath salts in western Colorado.

"It's an emerging drug of concern," Schrant said.

The DEA issued an emergency ban in October on three ingredients often found in bath salts, and

Congress is debating whether to impose a permanent ban.

DEA spokeswoman Barbara Carreno said it is unclear whether the chemical found in Richards' body is one of the three compounds banned by the agency, but she said it could have been a substance created to provide the same effects....."
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