Deadly 'Bath Salts' Legal High Banned Across European Union

The European Union banned the party drug nicknamed "bath salts" and other so-called legal highs on Thursday that have been linked to nearly 150 deaths.

The synthetic stimulant MPDV can spark a psychotic experience for users and was linked to a grisly attack in the United States in which a man chewed off another's face.

Ministers agreed to make it illegal across the 28-nation EU to manufacture or sell four designer drugs.

They are MDPV; Methoxetamine, which is similar to the dance drug ketamine; synthetic opiate AH-7921; and 25I-NBOMe, a hallucinogenic with effects similar to those of LSD.

"These drugs are like wolves in sheep's clothing," said Martine Reicherts, the EU's Justice Commissioner.

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"The ban voted on today will give them the criminal status they deserve. Legal highs are not legal: they are lethal."

Member states have one year to vote legislation implementing the ban, the European Commission said.

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The EU's drugs agency said there had been 108 deaths across the region that were linked to MPDV -- full name 3,4-methylenedioxypyrovalerone -- with most of the fatalities in Finland, Britain and Sweden.

The white powder can be inhaled, injected or smoked and resembles regular bath salts in texture.

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Twenty deaths had been linked to Methoxetamine, 15 with AH-7921 and four with 25I-NBOMe, it said.

The EU banned the drug "meow-meow", or mephedrone, in 2010 over similar concerns.

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Canada has banned MDPV while President Barack Obama's drug czar has warned of the dangers of "bath salts" and other amphetamine-like substances.