CALGARY — Calgary police may have encountered their first local case of the infamous drug bath salts this weekend.
Duty inspector Craig Skelton said emergency services were called to a residence in Bridlewood at 9 a.m. Saturday after family members became concerned about a man’s psychotic behaviour.
Skelton said the man in his early 20s had a significant tolerance for pain and was highly combative.
It’s not confirmed the man was on bath salts, but Skelton said his behaviour was consistent with the behaviour of using the drug.
“Obviously it’s concerning,” Skelton said. “We’ve all read recent reports of bath salts and the effects it can have on the body, so it does cause us concern.”
Skelton said this was the first local experience with bath salts that he knows about.
“We just wanted to make sure he got medical attention. That was our main priority,” Skelton said.
The man was taken to hospital and no charges were laid.
Bath salts rose to infamy recently after it was reported a man in Miami was on the drug when he was caught naked eating the face of a homeless man.
At a press conference in early June, police spokesman Kevin Brookwell said the drug hasn’t been spotted on Calgary streets but it would be naive to believe it hadn’t reached the city.
Symptoms include foaming at the mouth, breathing rapidly, rapid heart rate, overheating of the body, resisting treatment, incoherent speech, combativeness, hallucinations, anxiety and paranoia, Brookwell said.
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