WASHINGTON, June 29 (UPI) -- The U.S. Senate Thursday passed legislation to ban what its sponsor, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., called "killer chemical components" sold as bath salts.
Schumer said the three bills relating to synthetic substances -- S. 409 Bath Salts, S. 605 Synthetic Marijuana and S. 839 Synthetic Hallucinogens -- were part of the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act.
"Let this be a warning to those who make a profit manufacturing and selling killer chemical components to our teens and children in New York: the jig is up," Schumer said in a statement. "This bill closes loopholes that have allowed manufacturers to circumvent local and state bans and ensures that you cannot simply cross state lines to find these deadly bath salts. We have seen bath salts catalyze some of the most heinous crimes in recent months and President Obama's signature will ensure that the federal government can fight this across state lines and at our borders."
Schumer's legislation would make bath salts illegal in the United States by adding the active ingredients methylenedioxypyrovalerone, or MDPV, and mephedrone and 29 other substances to the Controlled Substances Act, which classifies drugs that are illegal and cannot be prescribed under any circumstances.
The active ingredients in bath salts are sold online, at convenience stores and in smoke shops under names including Tranquility, Zoom, Ivory Wave, Red Dove, Legal Phunk and Vanilla Sky.
