Synthetic substances like bath salts and flakka are considered particularly dangerous drugs, with a reputation of turning people into "naked, paranoid lunatics."
Meanwhile, drugs like MDMA are generally considered much safer for both the user and for bystanders.
But a lot of people who think they are taking ecstasy or MDMA are inadvertently taking bath salts anyway, just without knowing it.
We know this because a group of researchers asked 679 young adults outside nightclubs or music festivals in New York City if they used various drugs, ranging from ecstasy or Molly (theoretically, pure MDMA, same as ecstasy) to bath salts.
Then the researchers asked to test the hair of the people they surveyed for signs of various drugs (they got hair from a quarter of respondents, though not all samples were usable).
"A lot of people laughed when they gave us their hair saying things like 'I don't use bath salts; I'm not a zombie who eats people's faces,'" lead study author Dr. Joseph Palamar, an assistant professor of Population Health at NYU Langone Medical Center, said in a press release.
They ended up with usable hair samples from from 48 participants who said they'd used ecstasy. Out of that group, 14 had either used bath salts or weren't sure if they had.
But here's the shocking thing: The study found that 40% of the group of 34 who said they'd used ecstasy but never bath salts also tested positive for various bath salts or flakka.
In the group of 48, half tested positive for MDMA and half positive for bath salts (there was significant overlap).
A larger sample of people would be necessary to figure out just how contaminated "ecstasy" normally is — both in New York City and around the country. And there's always the possibility that some people were not truthful when answering the researchers' questions. But the results still strongly suggest that when people buy ecstasy or Molly, they don't always know what they are getting.
The researchers conducted this study in the first place because of an increase in poisonings related to "hallucinogenic amphetamines," so there was already reason to be suspicious of these drugs.
Palamar says that it's safest to avoid drugs altogether, but he'd recommend that users consider purchasing a test kit (like those sold by harm reduction group DanceSafe) that can distinguish MDMA from other substances.
"Ecstasy wasn't always such a dangerous drug, but it is becoming increasingly risky because it has become so adulterated with new drugs that users and the scientific community alike know very little about," Palamar said in the news release. "As Molly is becoming a much riskier substance, I really hope that those who decide to use educate themselves about what they’re doing."
