Legislature targets drugs in 'bath salts' as formulas change

by Alex Ferri - Mar. 27, 2012 09:27 PM The Republic | azcentral.com

Despite a new state law that bans certain ingredients used to make a synthetic drug known as "bath salts," manufacturers found a way to tweak their formulas to keep the drug on store shelves.

So, legislators are at it again -- this time trying to find a longer-term solution to banning such drugs.

The Senate Rules Committee will vote again on House Bill 2388, which would allow the Arizona State Board of Pharmacy to ban the chemicals used in bath salts.

The bill failed in the committee Monday over concerns about its constitutionality, but Sen. Linda Gray, R-Phoenix, said at a Tuesday news conference that she expects the bill to pass on its second vote.

Gov. Jan Brewer in February signed into law a bill banning seven primary chemicals in bath-salt drugs. But drug manufacturers began to use modified versions of the old chemicals that aren't specifically prohibited by the law, Gray said, a loophole that HB 2388 aims to eliminate.

Gray said the Legislature can't always keep up with banning every new substance drug manufacturers use in bath salts because the Legislature isn't always in session and is sometimes slow-moving.

The bill would allow the Board of Pharmacy to ban the sale of the modified chemicals while the Legislature isn't in session and allow lawmakers to pass bills that would make those chemicals illegal at a later date, Gray said.

This procedure is essential, Gray said, because it helps the state keep up with drug manufacturers and ban their new substances more quickly.

But some senators still think the bill gives an unconstitutional amount of authority to the Board of Pharmacy. Gray said Senate Majority Leader Andy Biggs, R-Gilbert, persuaded enough members of the Rules Committee to vote against the bill in its first vote for that reason.

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Legislature targets drugs in 'bath salts' as formulas change