Dr. Akikur Mohammad, Founder of Malibu Horizon, the top luxury rehab centers in Malibu, California and Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences at the University of Southern California (USC.edu), announced today that there is a new wave of designer drugs hitting the streets in 2012 and parents, addiction experts and teachers all need to be vigilant and well-informed before innocent lives are lost.
Leading the wave of new designer drugs is a horrific substance referred to as “Cosmetics” that users are ingesting in order to get a hallucinogenic high. The new Cosmetic products contain research chemicals (mephedrone, methylenedioxypyrovalerone or MDPV), stimulants that can be broken up and snorted, smoked or reduced to a liquid for injection just like cocaine. Since the effects of ingesting cosmetics are similar to cocaine, meth and ecstasy, dangerous amounts of Dopamine and very low levels of Serotonin impact the user’s brain, which results in severely damaged brain chemistry and inevitable psychosis with prolonged use.
“Similar to Bath Salts, Cosmetics are found after users ingest the drug for multiple days. Since the drug has a much longer half-life than other drugs, abusers stay under the influence longer, and after just a couple of days, a staggering number of users experience full psychotic breaks, which often result in extreme delusions, violent outbursts and severe depression,” said Dr. Mohammad.
Dr. Mohammad continued, “Cosmetics are packaged as actual make-up for young kids and look very similar to legitimate cosmetics. If parents and experts aren’t made aware that some of these make-up products are manufactured with the sole intention of getting users high, we will undoubtedly have a problem of epidemic proportion.” Mohammad added, “The manufacturers of Bath Salts have just altered the formula and repackaged the product as cosmetics, which is a travesty. While legislators made Bath Salts illegal, the research chemicals used to make the products have not been controlled, which means that manufacturers will continue to produce these chemicals, package them as different products not outlawed and make them available to kids. Until research chemicals are controlled, this will be a never ending process and we must remain vigilant.”