By PETE KLEIN

Express News Staff

LAKE PLEASANT - Hamilton County Sheriff Karl Abrams says bath salts are becoming a problem in Hamilton County.

Abrams says there was a bath salts incident in the Town of Inlet recently in which his department assisted. “Tasers don’t work on them (bath salts users) and hospitals don’t know what to do with them,” he says.

Bath salts are a class of synthetic drugs that mimics the effects of amphetamines, cocaine, LSD or ecstasy. They have been sold in head shops, convenience stores and online, and have nothing to do with the therapeutic bathtub products sold in drugstores.

They can be labeled everything from “glass cleaner” to “plant food” and may or may not be illegal, depending on the chemical makeup of a particular kind and on local ordinances.

Bath salts first appeared nationally in late 2010. Upstate poison control officials began getting calls about them early in 2011.

The use of these highly toxic drugs is increasing at an alarming rate. In 2010, U.S. Poison Control Centers received 303 calls related to synthetic cathinones in the entire year. In 2011 that number jumped to 5,625.

This type of explosive growth is considered similar to the PCP explosion seen in the 1970s.

Although a new federal law signed by President Barack Obama in July mirrors a 2011 New York state law that bans two chemicals in bath salts, the problem, says Abrams, is the manufacturers of these highly dangerous drugs keep tweaking the chemical makeup, making it difficult for law enforcement to keep up with them.

“Every time the chemical makeup is changed, they are technically legal until the law is updated,” he explained.

Abrams showed photos on the computer at his office of young men and woman who had cut and ripped their flesh down to the bone while under the influence of bath salts. These graphic photos will never be seen on nightly TV news.

Abrams spoke to the county’s town supervisors prior to their regular monthly meeting Aug. 2. He also reported, “DWI and unlawful possession of marijuana arrests are up by 26 incidents compared to this time last year.”

Abrams also spoke to the supervisors about an upcoming resolution.

The resolution, titled “Increasing 2012 Appropriation and Revenue for Building’s Court Projects,” would if approved result in a grant of $25,000 from the NYS Office of Court Administration for installing a security door at the courthouse.

But, Abrams said, there are problems with the grant. The problem is a requirement that the current full-time security guard position be reduced to part-time, thus reducing his yearly pay from $39,000 to 33,000.

Abrams said neither he nor Judge S. Peter Feldstein are in favor of reducing the security guard’s hours because he is extremely effective in quietly defusing potentially dangerous situations. They would like to negotiate with the OCA on this issue.

They worry, Abrams said, that reducing the security guard position to part-time could result in needing to hire someone less effective in safeguarding the judge and others at the court.

When it came time for a vote the resolution was tabled to give Feldstein and Abrams time to negotiate with OCA.