SHAMOKIN - A 46-year-old East Cameron Township woman who is concerned about the potential deadly effects of bath salts took her message to the streets Thursday morning.
For three hours, Shana Neidig sat in a red car parked in the 500 block of East Sunbury Street across from the Friendly Choice convenience store with an old bedsheet displayed on the windshield containing the message - "Bath Salts Kill."
Neidig is working with Take Our Community Back, a local group combating drug use and the sale of harmful substances such as bath salts, K2 and Spice. Neidig chose to display her message near Friendly Choice because she claims the store sells those substances along with an assortment of pipes used to smoke marijuana and bath salts.
But an employee at the store Thursday morning denied that bath salts are sold there.
Bath salts, which authorities say can be snorted, smoked, eaten or injected, come in tiny round containers and are known by a variety of names such as Vanilla Sky, Hurricane Charlie and Cloud Nine.
Presently, bath salts and similar substances are legal to purchase or sell, although there is legislation proposed to make it illegal to buy or sell the drugs that can lead to hallucinations, paranoia and death.
"I've been involved for the past few months with Rick Catino and the Take Our
Community Back group," Neidig said. "But this is something I did on my own to make more people aware of the dangers of bath salts. I spray-painted an old bedsheet with the message, "Bath Salts Kill," and put it across the windshield of my cousin's car. I parked the car across from the store at about 8 a.m. on Sunbury Street (Route 61), where people driving by could see it. There were a lot of motorists beeping their horns when they saw the message, so I guess it got their attention, which is what my goal was."
Neidig said a 19-year-old friend told her he purchased bath salts at Friendly Choice a few days ago. Neidig said she saw bath salts, similar substances and pipes for sale behind the front counter of the store when she went inside Thursday morning.
The East Cameron Township woman, who has a 12-year-old son and a 15-year-old daughter, said she had a drug problem when she was in her 20s and doesn't want her children or any other teens or adults getting hooked on dangerous drugs.
"I was hooked on meth (methamphetamine) when I was younger," Neidig said. "That wasn't a good experience, but I knew speed and crank wouldn't kill me or have a bad effect on me for the rest of my life. I'm scared for my children and others who could experiment with bath salts. The effects of bath salts can be deadly. It's nothing like I've ever seen. It has a lot of street names, but they should just call it death."
Neidig, who is familiar with teens and young adults who are addicted to bath salts, recalled an incident a few months ago when she tackled a guy high on bath salts who planned to jump off a wall on Pine Street in Coal Township. "He was out of his mind from taking bath salts," she said. "The effects are horrific. People want to kill themselves or others. They get out of control and start hallucinating. Even the hard-core addicts can't handle it."
Neidig said she plans to continue to make people more aware of the dangers of bath salts.
Catino, who is the president and founder of Take Our Community Back, applauded Neidig's efforts.
"I support and admire her efforts and everyone else who stands up for their community," Catino said. "She reached out on her own to tackle this problem head-on. I applaud her for taking a stand and saying enough is enough. She has my 100 percent gratitude."
Bath salts may have contributed to the death of Justin Boyles, 31, of Milton, whose body was found Feb. 12 behind the Anthra-Plaza in Coal Township more than a week after he was reported missing by a female friend in Shamokin, whom he reportedly was staying with at the time of his disappearance.
Before his body was discovered, Boyles was last seen at the Mt. Royal Mart in Ranshaw, where he tried to use a friend's credit card, allegedly to buy bath salts, to which he may have been addicted, family members and friends have said.
Also, Northumberland County District Attorney Tony Rosini acknowledged in a recent letter to the editor the unconfirmed reports that suspended state trooper David A. Lynch may have been using bath salts when he disappeared; he was found dead Feb. 2 in the Roaring Creek Tract of the Weiser State Forest near Natalie.
Take Our Community Back held a meeting Wednesday night at Nostrovia in Coal Township and hopes to form a Shamokin-Coal Township chapter.