Synthetic Drugs In the Good Morning America article “’Bath Salts’: Use of Dangerous Drug Increasing Across U.S.”, the many dangers of designer drugs are exposed. One of these dangers being the creation of the new designer drug: Bath Salts. Bath salts have become the hot new thing in teenagers today because of how easy it is to obtain the drug. Although the drug may be easy to find, the designer drug is not easy to get rid of in your body. Recently, there have been many attacks from people that were high on the new drug. The most famous being a Miami man who was killed after he ate almost all of a homeless man’s face. Because of this incident, the drug became more popular and the U.S. began to take action in order to ban the new designer drug. Recently, a Delaware senator, “ praised pending legislation proposing a nationwide ban on "bath salts," a dangerous synthetic drug that's on the rise in the United States and might have led to the recent attack in Miami where a man allegedly ate off 80 percent of a homeless man's face.” (Dolak). By the senator praising the pending legislation, it shows how America is concerned with the new drug and the effect it has on their people. Through the use of ethos, pathos, and logos, as well as different sources Kevin Dolak’s article “’Bath Salts’: Use of Dangerous Drug Increasing Across U.S.”, portrays the dangers that bath salts has on the many Americans that are using the designer drug today. The author applys to ethos throughout the entire article, making the reader feel the emotion he felt when he wrote the article. The emotion that is felt throughout the article is apparent by the use of different examples of people that have used the drug. An excellent example of his attempt to use emotion in the article, is of the high school teenager that was found high on bath salts. “Bay County Sheriff Frank McKeithen said he was disturbed by the affects that the drug had on the unidentified Florida teen who he witnessed high on bath salts in the back of a squad car. "It's pretty devastating to think this kid was a normal kid walking around maybe the week before," McKeithen said.” (Dolak)
Dolak also applies logos to the article, by using different points of logic when describing the designer drug. By using different statistics and numbers, he makes his point more clear that bath salts are a horrible path to take. Dolak points out that the number of calls to poison centers concerining bath salts rose, “6,138 in 2011 from 304 in 2010, according to the American Association of Poison Control Centers. More than 1,000 calls have been made so far this year.” (Dolak) By pointing out the number of calls to the poison center concering bath salts, Dolak accentuates how this new drug is affecting Americans today. By doing this, he is also applying to ethos. By applying to ethos, the author makes the readers feel bad for the people that are affected by taking the drug therefore others will not take the drug as well. Dolak does this by explaining how dangerous drugs like bath salts are, “terrorizing our communities and destroying lives," Democratic Sen. Chris Coons said in a statement Monday. "Stricter measures must be taken to stem the growing prevalence of bath salts and other new designer drugs." (Dolak). Another way that the article refers to logos is how Dolak explains how the new drugs should not be mistaken with the cleansing products. He further explains how bath salts are, “an inexpensive, synthetic, super-charged form of speed. The drug consists of a potpourri of constantly changing chemicals, three of which -- mephedrone, MDPV and methylone -- were banned last year by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.” (Dolak) This information shows how easy it is for anybody, especially teenagers, to obtain this deadly drug. This strategy applys to ethos by making the readers feel as though they too can be affected if they try the drug. The author further uses logos throughout the article to list facts about the drug on how it is used and how it is made. He states that, “he active ingredient found in bath salts is a chemical known as metheylenedioxypyrovalerone, or MDPV for short. As far as the effects they have, bath salts are a central nervous system stimulant that acts something like a mix of methamphetamine and cocaine.” (Dolak). Dolak explains how the high from the drug is a, “dangerous situation, leading to a high that some drug abuse experts describe as up to 13 times more potent than cocaine. The altered mental status it brings can lead to panic attacks, agitation, paranoia, hallucinations and violent behavior.” By including the details about how the high was thirteen times more intense than that of cocaine were extremely interesting. By stating these facts, the author is able to catch the reader’s attention and keep the reader interested. The facts about the high are interesting because most people already know about the drug cocaine and by comparing the two highs together, gives the reader a better understanding about what kind of damage the deadly drug can bring. “’Bath Salts’: Use of Dangerous Drug Increasing Across U.S”, best presents the danger of the drug through the use of ethos and logos. The source is very credible, presents accurate and interesting facts and is able to shine a light on the horrible drug that is bath salts. The article describes how the drug is made, the effects of the drug, and how easy it is to obtain the drug. Although this article will not completely stop the use of the drug, it definatiely showed how serious and how dangerous the drug can be. Through the different examples that Dolak used, he was able to show his readers the realness of the drug and how anyone could be affected by it. Bath salts continue to be a problem in society today, but hopefully with articles like this one and writers like Dolak, the bath salt reign will one day end.