Bath Salts BANNED in Canada
The key ingredient
in a new, highly addictive street drug known as "bath salts" has been
banned in Canada.
Under new federal
rules announced Wednesday by Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq,
methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV) is illegal to possess, traffic, import or
export, unless authorized by regulation.
"Effective
immediately, all activities with respect to MDPV are illegal in Canada. MDPV
has been classified in the same category of drugs as heroin and cocaine,"
Aglukkaq said in the foyer of the House of Commons Wednesday.
Aglukkaq said
border officials and police officers who find bath salts now have the power to
act under the law.
"These bath
salts pose a real and present danger to Canadians and the Canadian public. That
is why we gave law enforcement the tools they need to get these products off
our streets and out of the hands of those who may not know how harmful they
are," Aglukkaq said.
Aglukkaq was joined
for the announcement on Parliament Hill by Conservative Sen. Jean-Guy Dagenais,
Randy Franks of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police and members of the
RCMP and the Border Services Agency.
Franks, who is a
staff inspector with Toronto police and is chair of the CACP's drug abuse
committee, said the spread of the drug has been a "serious concern"
to police and Wednesday's move will allow them to "deal with those who
victimize some of the most vulnerable people in our communities: the young and
those who suffer from addiction."
Police warnings
The white, powdery
MDPV is used to create bath salts which can reportedly cause hallucinations,
paranoia and violent behaviour in some cases.
A number of police agencies across Canada have
issued warnings in recent months about the synthetic drug spreading north from
the United States.
Bath salts contain
a number of amphetamine-like chemicals, including MDPV, a synthetic cathinone
similar to the active ingredient in the drug khat that's chewed in parts of
East Africa and in Yemen.
MDPV had not been
regulated in Canada, but is now designated under Schedule 1 of the Controlled
Drugs and Substances Act – the same category as heroin and cocaine.
Researchers in
Canada will still be able to use MDPV in scientific studies despite the ban,
but they will need to seek an exemption from the regulation.
U.S. President
Barack Obama signed a bill into law in July banning several drugs, including
bath salts, south of the border.
Bath salts captured
international headlines in May after media reports suggested the perpetrator of
a face-eating attack in Miami was high on bath salts. However, it eventually
came to light there was only marijuana in the attacker's system.
The move to ban
MDPV is being billed as a way to help Canadian law enforcement agencies
overcome problems in combatting the spread of bath salts.
As a synthetic
product, drug-sniffing dogs and urine screening tests can miss bath salts. It
is also difficult to track down because the drug is being packaged and sold as
an authentic consumer product with labels that describe it as real bath salts,
plant food or insect repellent, and say "not for human consumption."
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