Bill 78-31, introduced by Vice Speaker BJ Cruz, seeks to prohibit the derivatives methyenedioxypyrovalerone, or MDPV, and methylmethcathinone, or mephedrone, on Guam.
The drugs are known as “bath salts” and were being sold in gas stations across the U.S. Its street names include Cloud 9, Ivory Wave, Ocean, Charge Plus, White Lightning, Scarface, Hurricane Charlie, Vanilla Sky, Red Dove and White Dove.
An outbreak of reports of the drugs’ abuse has been rising in the U.S. with an increase in the number of emergency room visits because of its side effects.
Whether snorted, eaten or smoked, the drugs are used as a legal substitute for cocaine or ecstasy and in some cases, methamphetamine, which is commonly known on Guam as “ice.”
High doses of MDPV are known to cause intense, prolonged panic attacks in stimulant-intolerant users with reports of psychosis from sleep withdrawal and dependence at higher doses, the bill states.
Mephedrone is a psychoactive substance and is a cathinone derivative of a plant called Catha edulis. Chemically, it is similar to ephedrine and some amphetamines.
The bill also states that producers of these substances, based overseas, package the substances and label them as “not for human consumption” to escape FDA regulations.
A growing number of states, including North Dakota, Mississippi, Florida, Hawaii, and Kentucky are moving to ban bath salts, the bill states.
“Vice Speaker Cruz hopes to help limit accessibility to these dangerous synthetic drugs and the violent nature of their side effects,” stated a press release.
