A new form of stimulant has been cropping up across the country; and while it’s actually sold legally in many states, the drug has medical experts worried. Called “bath salts,” the stimulants come in powder and crystal form and are sold under names such as Aura, Ivory Wave and Vanilla Sky for anywhere from $25 to $50 per packet. Legal or not, their effects can be alarming—sometimes comparable to how PCP affected folks back in the 1970s. One woman, thinking something was crawling underneath her skin after taking the bath salts for several days, allegedly scratched herself “to pieces.” Poison control centers have received nearly 3,500 calls related to bath salts already in 2011—up from 303 reported in all of 2010. “Some of these folks aren’t right for a long time,” says Karen E. Simone, director of the Northern New England Poison Center. “If you gave me a list of drugs that I wouldn’t want to touch, this would be at the top.” (New York Times)