According to the American Association of Poison Control Centers, the use of "bath salts"
appears to be on the rise, with poison control centers fielding 20 times as many calls related to the "drug" in 2011 as they did in 2010. And "bath salts"
have been linked to a string of bizarre crimes in the United States in recent months.
On June 3, police in Illinois said a 37-year-old man
admitted to using "bath salts" before a robbery attempt in which he "dismantled a fan, plugged in a hair dryer, pulled out wires from a furnace, toyed with a hatchet and managed to pour gasoline on himself." Officers used a stun gun to subdue him.