Designer drugs slip past prosecution

TAMPA The term "designer drug" was coined by a University of California at Davis pharmacologist in the '80s, used to describe man-made drugs more potent than ever.

Ecstasy. PCP. GHB. LSD.

As legislators outlawed these drugs, manufacturers simply tweaked the formulas to get new, legal versions. Authorities realized they were always behind.

So federal lawmakers passed a bill to outlaw designer drugs in 1986. But it has been largely ineffective.

Called the Federal Analog Act, the law states that any chemical "substantially similar" to a controlled substance will be treated as one, if intended for human consumption.

It was the first time the government had tried to outlaw entire groups of drugs.

And it should have stopped bath salts.

Over the past century, synthetic drugs have been born in laboratories, usually for medical purposes.

Bath salts are primarily derivatives of the drug cathinone. One of the original versions was first distributed as an antidepressant. But people started abusing these drugs. Authorities outlawed cathinone in 1993.

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Designer drugs slip past prosecution