Last week, a Pennsylvania woman was arrested following a pursuit by police. After the alleged chase, the woman was arrested and charged with driving under the influence. However, she had not consumed alcohol or smoked marijuana or a similar narcotic substance prior to her arrest. Instead, the woman admitted that she had taken bath salts earlier that day.

Bath salts are not really salts in the traditional sense, but can be used as drug products that alter perception and behavior when ingested, injected, smoked or snorted. They are a new addition to the drug scene, arriving in Pennsylvania just a few months ago. Therefore, they are not explicitly included in the Pennsylvania DUI law's list of controlled substances. Despite that omission, the woman was charged with driving under the influence of a controlled substance, and law enforcement officials believe that her actions are prosecutable under the state DUI law.

According to George Geisler, the Pennsylvania DUI Association's law enforcement services director, bath salts are classified as a drug under Pennsylvania law when they are used with the intention that they act as a narcotic. Under the law, he says, a drug is "any substance other than food intended to affect the structure or any function of the body."

As such, Geisler says, driving under the influence of bath salts is a prosecutable crime despite the fact that bath salts are not listed as a controlled substance in the DUI law because the law covers "any substance classified as a drug." However, many DUI defense attorneys and advocates are crying foul, claiming that harshly punishing alleged offenders under a catch-all provision violates their rights.

Source: The Times Leader, "Charges of DUI possible", Edward Lewis, 2 April 2011