SC lawmaker: Ban bath salts, synthetic marijuana

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — While South Carolina’s health agency is preparing a ban on synthetic stimulants like bath salts, one state lawmaker tried to outlaw them earlier this year.

Rep. Anne Thayer sponsored legislation when lawmakers met in January to make the new compounds illegal. The proposal didn’t get out of committee.

But the Anderson Republican says plenty has changed since this spring, with a rash of bizarre incidents across the state and even the death of a college athlete blamed on synthetic stimulants.

The Department of Health and Environmental Control will vote Monday on whether to adopt recommendations made by the Drug Enforcement Administration to make possession of synthetic stimulants a criminal violation.