Bath salts becoming more prevalent in one Pennsylvania county

New drugs are hitting the streets disguised as normal everyday household items, such as bath salts. However, these impostors mimic the effects of cocaine and methamphetamines and are being used by troubled teens, according to the Lebanon Daily News.

Law enforcement in Jonestown, Pennsylvania told the news source that the fake salts are intended to be legal synthetic drugs that are snorted or smoked. They contain powerful chemicals, including mephedrone, which is a stimulant that is similar to amphetamines.

They added that the drug can produce extreme paranoia, delusions, increased heart rate, chest pain and severe agitation. As a result, the state's General Assembly has discussed adding bath salts to a bill that would restrict the use of synthetic marijuana.

"Many of the people who came in [to poison control centers] described this as a really bad trip," Mark Ryan, head of the Louisiana Poison Center, whose state was the first to address the issue, told the news source. "But because it causes such intense cravings, like methamphetamine, they keep using it."

The 2009 National Survey on Drug Use and Health reveals that an estimated 21.8 million Americans age 12 and older used illicit drugs in the month prior to the survey.