People have been wanting to ban bath salts even before social media exploded with the story about a cannibalistic attack that took place in Miami over Memorial Day weekend. The suspect killed by police in the story as the “Naked Zombie Attack” was reportedly high on the synthetic stimulants at the time.
The U.S. Senate voted to make the chemicals that make up the components of the bath salts illegal in a recent 96-1 vote. Anti-drug advocates argue the move may help prevent further gruesome “zombie” attacks.
Police have said Rudy Eugene attacked a 65-year-old Ronald Poppo, a homeless man, on Saturday and ate 80 percent of his face, the Miami Herald first reported. Poppo survived the attack, but is in critical condition and Eugene was shot to death by police officers when he allegedly refused to stop eating Poppo’s face.
Poppo reportedly had his eyes, nose and mouth chewed off during the attack.
Click for the alleged images of Ronald Poppo: WARNING DISTURBING VICTIM’S FACE & BODY
It was believed that Eugene may have been over dosing on bath salts during the gruesome attack. He was stripped naked of all his clothes and preying on Poppo on near Miami’s popular MacArthur Causeway.
“A common effect of these synthetic products is that they cause psychotic episodes- anxiety, paranoia, they’re all documented effects,” Paul Melton, an investigator with Florida’s Pinellas County Justice Coordination told USnews. “Does it cause someone to eat someone’s face, I can’t say that … But it certainly could cause anxiety and delusions that could lead to something like that.”
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) expressed how she wanted there to ban bath salts, calling them a “national threat that requires national action.”
