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Germany

Designer Drugs: “Bath Salts” Offer Some Wild Trips, Sometimes To The Hospital

Users of "Bath Salts" - a trendy new designer drug that's all the rage in Germany's club scene - say the substance can be hit and miss: often a rush of euphoria, sometimes an attack of paranoia. In a few cases, users ha

A young woman speaks about the effects of MDPV, aka
A young woman speaks about the effects of MDPV, aka

*NEWSBITES

MUNICH -- They may not be against the law, but they are definitely dangerous. "On a good high, I dance for hours – but once I had a down that lasted for days," says Rita Morales (not her real name) describing the game of Russian roulette that an increasing number of young Germans are playing with designer drugs known as "bath salts."

"Wicked," "Ecko," "Rush Hour," "Jungle Dust" – whatever the name, they come in small bright packages, can be sniffed or swallowed, and engender rushes of euphoria. Side effects? Racing heart, hyper activity, shivers, delusions of grandeur, paranoia, aggressiveness and suicidal thoughts.

Morales, 25, is a student in Munich, and she and her friends often take drugs on weekends. She has used Bath Salts many times. "They stimulate you, you feel like talking a lot, and for a couple of hours you're in a great mood," Morales says. "It's like taking Ecstasy." When things go well, that is. The catch is that sometimes Bath Salts trigger the opposite reaction. "You never know what the effect will be. Once I had to be rushed to the hospital to be stabilized," she says.

For several months, the designer drugs, also known as "legal highs," have been finding ever more users in German cities -- and the number of users delivered to the emergency rooms of German hospitals is piling up.

Dr. Felix Tretter, head of the addiction unit at Munich's Isar-Amper hospital, says in the past month alone he dealt with 12 cases of psychosis triggered by the drugs. "Patients are completely disoriented, experience severe psychotic episodes, and suffer permanent damage to their health," he says. Many have to be turned over to the psychiatric ward.

One case involved a 15-year-old who became extremely aggressive in a train, attacked other passengers, and ended up at the clinic in a psychotic state. Another teenager experienced kidney failure after taking the drug for the first time, leaving him with irreparable damage that could eventually make him a candidate for dialysis, says Bernd Kreuzer of the drug unit of Bavaria's State Office of Criminal Investigations.

The drugs are easily available on the Internet, sometimes sold as "artificial fertilizer" or "air freshener." They contain mephedron or chemical derivatives of it. But their composition is such that they don't yet fall under existing narcotics laws, and are thus legal. It usually takes about a year for new substances to figure on the index, but by that time drug "designers' have come up with something new that is not yet outlawed.

According to Kreuzer, the problem with Bath Salts is the way they are being played down. "Young people see them as party drugs," he says. "They don't see that things can end very badly, very quickly. These new drugs have far worse side effects than conventional drugs."

Another problem, according to Kreuzer, is easy availability. In Europe he estimates there are about 600 Internet shops that will ship them; some 25 are in Germany. Rita Morales says they're also available under the counter at plenty of shops like a piercing studio she knows of, "where all you have to do is ask." One gram costs between 20 and 50 euros, which makes it a lot cheaper than cocaine, which costs 100 euros per gram. Some Munich bartenders keep a supply on tap for customers as well, Morales says.

Kreuzer says his department focuses on dealers, not users, as selling Bath Salts is illegal. Last year alone, he says, there were some 3,000 arrests in Bavaria. But growth of synthetic drugs is estimated at 100% per year.

Read the full story in German by Beate Wild

Photo - Youtube

*Newsbites are digest items, not direct translations

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food / travel

When Racism Poisons Italy's Culinary Scene

This is the case of chef Mareme Cisse, a black woman, who was called a slur after a couple found out that she was the one who would be preparing their meal.

Photo of Mareme Cisse cooking

Mareme Cisse in the kitchen of Ginger People&Food

Caterina Suffici

-Essay-

TURIN — Guess who's not coming to dinner. It seems like a scene from the American Deep South during the decades of segregation. But this happened in Italy, in this summer of 2023.

Two Italians, in their sixties, got up from the restaurant table and left (without saying goodbye, as the owner points out), when they declared that they didn't want to eat in a restaurant where the chef was what they called: an 'n-word.'

Racists, poor things. And ignorant, in the sense of not knowing basic facts. They don't realize that we are all made of mixtures, come from different racial and ethnic backgrounds. And that food, of course, are blends of different ingredients and recipes.

The restaurant is called Ginger People&Food, and these visitors from out of town probably didn't understand that either.

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