WMBFNews.com, Myrtle Beach/Florence SC, WeatherDesigner bath salts sweeping the nation

MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WMBF) Bath salts is a designer drug that has torn families apart and is blamed for thousands of deaths in the United States this year alone.

Drug counselors say it's like lsd, pcp and cocaine all wrapped in one and a quick high could lead to a lifetime of mental illness.

Ainsley Garcia said the father of her youngest child is recovering from using the drug, but the effects have torn her family apart because of his behavior.    

She explained he was "very psychotic would fly off the handle for anything and everything.  I've actually stayed away from him because it's something I can't allow my children to be around and that hurts me."

Violence is not unusal for someone hooked on the drug.

President of Complete Scene Intervention, Bill Flynn, said a man who was allegedly on the drug and tore through three homes breaking windows, tearing doors down and  walking down the street to two other homes doing damage by trying to break into them." 

Flynn said the families were inside screaming for him to go away, but Flynn said the man kept trying to get in the homes until he bled to death from being cut on broken glass.

Ron White is on a mission to put an end to the drug with Pee Dee People Against Bath Salts.

He is encouraging municipalities to ban the drug and people in the community to do their part.

When White saw a gas station in Florence selling it against city laws he took a picture to get police to make sure they stay off the shelves.

White said he worries what could happen if the drug gets into the wrong hands and stated, "Then I thought oh my God what if some mad man drops some of this into my little girls carton of milk at school. 

Drug Counselor David Kahn said young people are attracted to it and "mainly teenagers are using it because they get that quote legal high."

Kahn said the effects are long lasting and can have permanent psychosis on young and old brains.

After rehab and months of staying clean Garcia said her boyfriend still acts strangely.

Members of the state house tried to ban bath salts, but the bill didn't get a vote before the legislature

adjourned in June.

Lawmakers don't return to Columbia until January.

The state health department made an effort  to outlaw the drug too, but it can't act on its own until the  federal drug enforcement administration signs off on a temporary nationwide prohibition.

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