Effects of "spice" and "bath salts"

[keepingpeace]

I am a foster parent and have two babies in my care that are addicted to spice and bath salts.  One of the babies is now 9 months old and is not sleeping at night.  She cries all night long and I have tried everything to get her to sleep,  I have taken her to numerous doctors and no one knows what to do for her.  She continues to have visits with her parents who are still smoking spice and I feel that she is somehow getting exposed to this drug while with them but I have no documentation to prove that she can be inhaling this drug,  Does anyone know if and how babies can be exposed to this drug if they are around people still using?

[Julia M Aharonov, DO]

You are a wonderful person to be caring for these infants who needs every ounce of love they can get. You have every right to be very concerned about the babies being exposed to these dreadful new drugs both during pregnancy and while on parental visits. I have taken these few days to do some searching through the medical literature  and while there are many worrisome reports cropping up about the effects on the adult users, there is precious little on the effects in pregnancy, and nothing at all on the long term effects  on children who have been effected.
Spice is as relatively new "stuff" on the market, but what is know about it is very alarming.
Professor John W. Huffman, who first synthesised many of the cannabinoids used in synthetic cannabis,(this man created this stuff) is quoted as saying, "People who use it are idiots." "You don't know what it's going to do to you."
To an adult who uses it, it can cause heart attacks, convulsions, psychosis, severe agitation that can not be treated with normal sedatives that are available in the ER.
I am extremely concerned that the parental visits are ongoing. If you have documentation or some form of proof that the parents are in fact, use spice before or during visits, I would not hesitate to bring it in front of the judge.  what you need to have explained to the judge is that spice can not be picked up but any drug test as of yet, so the use must be examined based  on other factor such as behavior, history,friends, associations, etc...
You are in a very difficult position here, but you have the babies' interest at heart and that is the most important thing.
Let me know what happens and how you are doing. Best of luck to all of you.

[proudmommy0712]

Spice is just as bad as smoking crack in the same room as the child. Its a serious problem and someone needs to do something about it.