Drugs Sold As Bath Salts Now Illegal In La.

MANDEVILLE, La. (AP) — Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration has issued an emergency order barring a half-dozen dangerous new drugs sold as phony bath salts or plant food, with penalties equivalent to those for heroin.

Jindal says Louisiana also is asking the federal Drug Enforcement Agency to investigate whether the state is a national distribution center. That's because Louisiana's poison control center gets 57 percent of all calls about the chemicals nationwide.

Louisiana's center has received 165 calls about people in crisis after snorting, smoking or injecting the drugs. Officials say Kentucky has the next-largest number with 23.

Officials say that in Louisiana, 85 percent of the calls are from emergency room doctors or first responders.