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Temporary injunction against eight merchants comes after they don’t heed request.
District Attorney Jacqueline Musto Carroll talks about a preliminary injunction issued Tuesday that bans bath salts sales in the county.
Clark Van Orden/The Times Leader
WILKES-BARRE – A Luzerne County judge approved a temporary injunction against eight merchants on Tuesday, banning the sale of the highly hallucinogenic legal substance known as bath salts.
District Attorney Jacqueline Musto Carroll filed the injunction request, saying the sale of bath salts is a public health risk. She noted in the petition and during a late morning news conference that more than 100 people under the influence of bath salts have recently been treated in the emergency room at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center in Plains Township.
A hearing for a permanent countywide ban is scheduled on Monday before President Judge Thomas F. Burke Jr.
Musto Carroll said the temporary ban prohibits the sale of bath salts containing certain chemicals used to manufacture the synthetic substance.
Chemicals used in the making of synthetic bath salts were named in the petition to prevent manufacturers from simply changing the name.
“People have asked me about bath salts, and there is some confusion thinking it is Calgon or those sorts of products you put into the bath tub,” Musto Carroll said. “It is not. The name was used intentionally to confuse people. These are chemicals we are hoping will be characterized as illegal drugs.”
Traditional bath salts for the tub sell for about $2, while the synthetic substance sells around $40 for a half-gram.
The temporary injunction signed by Judge David W. Lupas comes at a time when the state Senate is debating a bill that would add bath salts chemicals to the state’s controlled substance act.
“This is just a stopgap measure,” Musto Carroll said. “We are waiting on the Legislature to enact a law (that) would prohibit the sale and use of bath salts. We are hoping that will happen very quickly. Then we can enforce the drug laws against these people who continue to use these chemicals.
“Law enforcement needs this to happen as quickly as possible,” she added.
It took several weeks for Musto Carroll to prepare to file the injunction request. She first had to publicly ask merchants to remove bath salts from shelves.
Merchants were invited along with law enforcement agencies to a conference held April 8 on bath salts. After the public request to remove bath salts from shelves and the conference, police officers then visited merchants in an attempt to buy bath salts.
Those named in the injunction sold bath salts despite the request to stop, Musto Carroll said.
“A few weeks ago, we asked the merchants to please stop selling these products. Still, some businesses continue to put their profit margins above the safety of the public and continue to sell these drugs. As a result, purchases were made, chemicals were tested and we are able to obtain the temporary injunction this morning,” Musto Carroll explained.
A violation of the temporary injunction can result in civil penalties of $1,000 per sale and criminal penalties under the state’s nuisance statute of up to two years in jail and a $5,000 fine.
Bath salts are synthetic stimulates that contain various amphetamine-like chemicals that result in experiencing extreme paranoia, hallucinations, rapid heart rate, suicidal thoughts, insomnia and kidney failure, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Musto Carroll said merchants looking to properly dispose of synthetic bath salts can call her office at 825-1674.
“We will pick up those chemicals and we will have them destroyed,” she said.
Merchants named
Recent incidents
Merchants named in the temporary injunction.
Sunoco (Plains Food Store/Tar Run Corp., 329 N. River St., Plains Township
U.S. Gas/Market Street Convenience, Inc., 581 Market St., Kingston
Sunoco Station, 151 Memorial Highway, Dallas
Safari Plaza, 547 N. Hunter Road, Butler Township
USA Gas/R&S Convenience, Inc., 400 Market St., Kingston
Utopia Herbal Shop and Coffee Bar, 57 N. Main St., Wilkes-Barre
Brother Cooperative, Inc., 532 Hazle Ave., Wilkes-Barre
U.S. Gas/Express Lane Minit Mart, 828 N. Main St., Duryea
Locally, there have been many bath salts users arrested for ancillary crimes or who required police response. According to arrest and court records:
• A couple in West Pittston hallucinating on bath salts were charged with child endangerment when they believed 90 people were living in the walls of their apartment and using knives to stab the walls.
• Two women were charged with endangering people, including to children, when they were high on bath salts and driving a vehicle in Wilkes-Barre.
• A state police criminal commander said troopers encountered a man who had disrobed and threatened to harm himself while running in traffic on the Nanticoke-West Nanticoke Bridge.
• Scranton police believe Ryan Foley, 25, was high on bath salts when he allegedly broke into St. Ann’s Monastery and attacked a sleeping priest on March 8.
• Kingston police recently encountered a man they say was under the influence of bath salts yelling into his hand believing he had a cell phone. The man was arrested on a summary disorderly conduct
• Avoca police arrested a man who they allege was peeking into an occupied house looking for a place to ingest bath salts late Friday night.
First reported at
10:27
a.m.
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