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Broward Moves To Ban Bath Salts, Synthetic Marijuana

FT. LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) – Broward County commissioners have taken the first step to ban the sale or display of bath salts and synthetic marijuana.

On Tuesday, the commission asked the county's attorney to draft an ordinance to ban such products. The draft ordinance will come back for commission review in the fall.

"We're talking about products that carry names such as 'Innocence' and are sold at convenience stores and gas stations, et cetera," said Commissioner Sue Gunzburger who requested the ordinance.

Bath salts are a toxic cocktail of stimulants Methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV), mephedrone, and pyrovalerone. The Drug Enforcement Agency groups bath salts with mescaline and ephedrine, while dealers market the drug as a replacement for cocaine or a synthetic form of the hallucinogen LSD, according to CNN.

Bath salts can be inhaled, smoked, or digested and have names like Blue Silk, Hurricane Charley and Ivory Snow.

Last year, Gov. Rick Scott signed a law banning bath salts. The main problem for law enforcement: Manufacturers have managed to sidestep state law banning dozens of the stimulants by slightly altering the drugs' chemical makeup.

Similar ordinances have already passed or in the final stages of passing in Miami-Dade County and the cities of Miami, Sunrise and Sweetwater.

Miami investigators are looking into the possibility that the consumption of bath salts led to the highly publicized attack involving Rudy Eugene, who chewed off 50-percent of Ronald Poppo's face before he was shot and killed by police over Memorial Day weekend.

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