Cocaine Cut With Bath Salts Is Circulating In Montreal & Could Cause Drug-Induced Psychosis

High amounts of cocaine laced with bath salts are circulating in Montreal. A local drug testing site not only reports seeing a sustained increase in the drug combination over the past month but also a rise in the number of users with drug-induced psychosis.

Harm reduction group CACTUS Montreal warns that when consumed together, cocaine and bath salts can prompt uncontrollable binge use in people who usually limit their intake, often resulting in stimulant overdose, also known as 'overamping.'

Users can experience anything from extreme fatigue and physical discomfort when coming down, to psychological complications, like paranoia, anxiety, or psychosis.

"We realized there was a concern with cathinones in cocaïne, due to consistent results seen in multiple samples, coming from multiple sources, over the last month," said Christina Kiriluk, the director of CACTUS' drug testing site called Checkpoint.

"A couple years ago, there was a period of time where cathinones were either in MDMA or being sold as MDMA, which is something that folks might want to be on the lookout for," she told MTL Blog.

As of Friday, Checkpoint has not tested any MDMA cut with bath salts. However, Kiriluk's team did find some in a few speed samples over the last month.

"People who use cocaine, or any substances for that matter, should take the time to test their drugs before ingesting them," she said.

Checkpoint offers free and confidential drug testing. The site is open Wednesday to Saturday from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. A mobile van operated by GRIP also offers testing services for three to six hours per week.