While toxicology reports are still pending, Gothamist is reporting that authorities are looking at the possibility that the deaths were caused by methylone, a chemical akin to bath salts not MDMA. It is common for drug dealers to pass off bath salts as MDMA or Molly because the customer does not know the difference and it can be a lot more profitable for them.
Methylone is classified as a Schedule 1 drug, but under current laws methylone is not banned in New York State. It can produce similar effects compared to ecstasy, however it can also reproduce psychotic symptoms like agitation, paranoia and hallucinations.
Methylone is a killer drug even for those who take limited amounts and are completely healthy prior. It has just started to become studied, but a paper on Pubmed released earlier this year summarizes it well.
The rise in popularity of “bath salts” as safe alternatives to MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine), methamphetamine, and other illicit substances has resulted in increased scrutiny of the contents and toxicology associated with these products. We report a case of sudden death related to the synthetic cathinone methylone (3,4-methylenedioxy-N-methylcathinonmethylone) in a previously healthy 19-year-old man.
Although several fatal case reports have been published involving methylone and other synthetic cathinones, this is the first reported case of sudden cardiac death associated with methylone use.
Although lack of published data prevented a comparison of blood methylone concentrations between our case and existing reports, the amount of methylone we detected postmortem (0.07 mg/dL) is below those reported in MDMA-related fatalities. Our report suggests that methylone toxicity has been greatly underestimated by users of this synthetic cathinone.
Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget Brennan said to The Post that there have been numerous sales of the drug in New York city and, “We urgently need a law that would allow us to prosecute the sale of this deadly substance.”
The tragedies at Electric Zoo and at the Zedd show in Boston both meet the criteria of sudden cardiac death, but more information will not be known until toxicology reports are released. In both situations the users believed that they were taking MDMA or Molly, but without testing the drugs prior there was no way of knowing whether it was ecstasy or bath salts.
It’s possible that the media is waging the wrong war on raves and MDMA. Instead they should be looking at New York’s lack of oversight regarding illegal synthetic compounds.
img via Bath salts (DEA)
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