Governor signs bill banning bath salts

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WDTN) - The white powdery substance known as bath salts has been given a black mark by Ohio lawmakers after Governor John Kasich signed a bill into law Friday that puts the drug in the same category as things like heroin and marijuana.

For the man who spear-headed the effort to ban bath salts, it's about time.

"The bad thing about this stuff, you can not use it for six months and you wake up one day high off it again," says State Representative Clayton Luckie, who sponsored the bill. "The residual stays with you for a long time."

The question is whether bath salts will have that same hang over effect on the state.

The new law won't take effect for 90 days, so for the time being bath salts are still legal.

2 News talked with the owner of one shop which sells bath salts. He says he'll continue to do so until the law takes effect, even though Representative Luckie thinks people should stop immediately.

"As soon as this bill is signed today, if I were an individual retailer around Dayton I would start throwing it away," Luckie says.

The other question is how the new law will apply to similar substances with different chemical compounds. Representative Luckie says those will be considered illegal as well.

"Change the names all you want," Luckie says. "We went after the substance. So anything dealing with that substance you think is bad for people, we'll come and get you."

But the business owner 2 News talked with says he'll sell substances like bath salts as long as they're legal.

To him it's just business and if he doesn't sell it somebody will.

So if anyone finds a loophole in this law, chances are something like bath salts will be back on the streets.