The gory story of a man who was partying on South Beach has turned into a national headline.  The “just” of it, if it’s fair to even call it that, is that a man got high on a dangerous new designer drug and “ate” the face of a homeless man near the causeway that connects Miami to South Beach.

Yes, you heard that properly.  The man “ate” the face off of a homeless man.  He was high on a new drug people are calling “Bath Salts.”  Today we’ll do our best to create awareness for this horrible drug in an effort to spread the message that it’s clearly a threat to society.  

The disgusting photos are posted below.  We do issue a strong caution for anyone who has a weak stomach or who does not wish to expose their eyes to such X-rated content.

Just what is this drug, “bath salts” and what effects does it have on the people who consume them?

These so-called “bath salts” – not the types used to clean anything around the house – are a cheap, synthetic form of speed.  Consisting of a buffet of always changing chemicals, including mephedrone, MDPV, and methylone to name a few – all banned last year by the way – this drug is terrorizing anyone brave enough to try it out.

Further research led us to find out these are readily available online.  Is that scaring you yet?

Yep…..under names like “Purple Wave, “Zoom,” or perhaps the most fitting “Cloud Nine.”  These are sold in 50 milligram packets for $25 – $50.  This makes the bath salts a cheap high.

What the drugs actually do to humans is something still under research.  They create a condition police have called “excited delirium” that causes paranoia and a violent personality.

Some horror stories of people using the drug we found out about on Yahoo! are described below:

In July 2010:  A man in Virginia allegedly beat his friend to death.  He lated claimed that he had ingested both bath salts and a synthetic form of marijuana.

In April of 2011:  An Army Sgt. was under the influence of bath salts when he took his own life, his wife, and their five year old.

A County Sheriff in Florida said “he was disturbed by the affects that the drug had” on a person in the back of his squad car.  He was quoted as saying “it’s pretty devastating to think this kid was a normal kid walking around maybe the week before.”

These “bath salts” are clearly a problem, and we hope we don’t have to go as far as creating a “bath salts addiction” category to this site.  We hope and pray this problem quickly gets under control, but with any cheap designer drug, there will always be a market for it.

Why do people want to get high and become animals is beyond us.

The active ingredients affect the central nervous system, according to the yahoo! story.  “(MDPV being the active name for metheylenedixoypyrovalerone.) It acts like a mix of “meth and cocaine.”

By affecting levels of dopamine and norepinephrine, the drug traps these chemicals in the brain and it’s said the user doesn’t come down from this high.

Other research says “it’s 13 times more potent as cocaine.”

The altered mental status can lead to panic attacks, extreme agitation, parnoia, violent behavior and hallucinations.

People also obtain extraordinary strength similar to a high that people get on PCP.

The number of calls to poison centers really puts the alarm in this story:  calls rose to 6,138 in 2011 from only 304 in 2010.  The sheer percent of increase is alarming and something needs to be done, pronto.

While the drug is still new to the DEA, you can bet this is something that will be a hot topic of discussion and something will be done to curtail it’s existence.

That’s all we know right now.  If you are not looking for the Miami Zombie photos, please leave this page now.  The gory photos are below and you can view them at your own risk.

Do not look further if you don’t want to see the Miami Zombie victim. 

We warned you…..they are below.  Stop scrolling now.

Bath Salts did this?