PMID- 23718639
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20140508
LR  - 20191210
IS  - 1465-3362 (Electronic)
IS  - 0959-5236 (Linking)
VI  - 32
IP  - 5
DP  - 2013 Sep
TI  - Investigating the 'bath salt' panic: the rarity of synthetic cathinone use among 
      students in the United States.
PG  - 545-9
LID - 10.1111/dar.12055 [doi]
AB  - INTRODUCTION AND AIMS: Until recently, synthetic cathinones marketed as 'bath 
      salts' were legally sold at convenience stores and online in the USA. Media 
      reports initiated concerns of a growing 'bath salt' epidemic. Despite media 
      attention and the recent legal action banning synthetic cathinones, little is 
      known about its prevalence or users. DESIGN AND METHODS: A self-report survey was 
      administered to 2349 students in 40 randomly selected courses at a large 
      university in the Southeastern United States. The resulting sample was 51.6% 
      female, 68.9% white, 24.4% black, 2.8% Hispanic and 4.0% other races, with a mean 
      age of 20.06 years and median family income of $75 000-99 999. RESULTS: Only 25 
      (1.07%) of the students reported using synthetic cathinones at least once. 
      Synthetic cathinone use was found to be more common among men (1.68% vs. 0.50% of 
      women, P = 0.005), Hispanics (4.7%) and Native Americans (4.3% vs. 0.89% of 
      whites and 0.72% of blacks, P = 0.002), and student athletes (4.0% vs. 0.90% of 
      non-athletes, P = 0.001), but in each of these groups, synthetic cathinones were 
      used more rarely than marijuana (58.14%, P < 0.001), cocaine (9.08%, P < 0.001), 
      Salvia divinorum (7.89%, P < 0.001), synthetic cannabinoids (14.28%, P < 0.001), 
      methamphetamines (1.92%, P = 0.002), 3,4-methylenedioxy-N-methylamphetamine 
      (MDMA) (12.54%, P < 0.001) and several other drugs and pharmaceuticals. 
      DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: 'Bath salts' have received a great deal of media 
      attention in the USA, yet the prevalence of synthetic cathinone use among our 
      sample was extremely rare. We suggest that the media attention focusing on 
      synthetic cathinone use as a growing epidemic may be largely misplaced.
CI  - (c) 2013 Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs.
FAU - Stogner, John M
AU  - Stogner JM
AD  - Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, University of North Carolina at 
      Charlotte, Charlotte, USA.
FAU - Miller, Bryan Lee
AU  - Miller BL
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Randomized Controlled Trial
DEP - 20130529
PL  - Australia
TA  - Drug Alcohol Rev
JT  - Drug and alcohol review
JID - 9015440
RN  - 0 (Alkaloids)
RN  - 0 (Illicit Drugs)
RN  - 540EI4406J (cathinone)
SB  - IM
MH  - *Alkaloids
MH  - Data Collection/*methods
MH  - Female
MH  - Humans
MH  - *Illicit Drugs
MH  - Male
MH  - Self Report
MH  - *Students/psychology
MH  - Substance-Related Disorders/*epidemiology/psychology
MH  - United States/epidemiology
MH  - *Universities/trends
MH  - Young Adult
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - 3, 4-methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV)
OT  - bath salt
OT  - media panic
OT  - prevalence
OT  - synthetic cathinone
EDAT- 2013/05/31 06:00
MHDA- 2014/05/09 06:00
CRDT- 2013/05/31 06:00
PHST- 2013/01/18 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2013/04/29 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2013/05/31 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2013/05/31 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2014/05/09 06:00 [medline]
AID - 10.1111/dar.12055 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Drug Alcohol Rev. 2013 Sep;32(5):545-9. doi: 10.1111/dar.12055. Epub 2013 May 29.