PORT TOWNSEND — The presence of one the illegal drugs commonly known as “bath salts” has been confirmed for the first time in Port Townsend in a discovery that may be one of the first on the North Olympic Peninsula.
Port Townsend police recovered a small capsule containing a white powder during their investigation of an alleged assault by a 14-year-old Port Townsend boy of his father in mid-September, said Officer Luke Bogues, Port Townsend Police Department spokesman, on Saturday.
Officers submitted the substance found in the capsule to the State Patrol Crime Laboratory and received confirmation
Nov. 19 that it was Methylenedioxymethcathinone, or Methylone for short, also known as bath salts, Bogues said.
Police have identified neither the boy nor his father.
This is the first confirmed case of Methylone or any of the drugs known as bath salts found in Port Townsend, Bogues said, adding that this instance is particularly troubling because a teenager was able to get hold of it.
The federal Drug Enforcement Administration issued an emergency ban on Methylone on Oct. 21, 2011, Bogues said, with Washington state following suit Nov. 1, 2011.
Bogues said Methylone is known to produce a euphoric high in those who take it, while the DEA said the drug also can produce feelings of paranoia, delusions and insomnia.
Bogues said Port Townsend police officers could not confirm that the boy was under the influence of Methylone, which is usually sniffed up the nose.
He said the drug has been known to induce aggressive behavior in those who consume it.
Garin Williams, the school resource officer for the Port Townsend Police Department, has told Bogues that he is not aware of other reports of these types of drugs at Port Townsend schools, though Bogues said the mere presence of the drug suggest others also have access to it.
“My assumption is that if there’s one [capsule], there’s a lot more,” Bogues said. “We’re just not encountering it yet.”
Bogues he could not speak for the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office but said he had not heard of Jefferson County sheriff’s deputies encountering the drug.
Ron Cameron, the chief criminal deputy with the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office and commander of the Olympic Peninsula Narcotics Enforcement Team — or OPNET — said OPNET investigators have heard the occasional rumor of drugs referred to as bath salts in Clallam County but have no evidence to prove their presence.
“We haven’t had any hands-on [contact] as far as I know,” Cameron said Saturday.
“And there are definitely no [confirmed] cases.”
Brian Smith, deputy police chief for the Port Angeles Police Department, said his officers have encountered the drug a few times over the past few years, but he said he could not think of any cases of possession that had been brought to trial.
In mid-September, Port Townsend police investigated after receiving a report that a boy had allegedly assaulted his father after a disagreement arose over the father’s discipline of the boy, Bogues said.
Police found the father had sustained minor injuries and that the boy had locked himself in the bathroom, Bogues said.
Police, upon getting into the bathroom, arrested the boy for investigation of domestic violence assault against his father and recovered a small capsule that had been hidden in the bathroom, and which was later confirmed to be Methylone, Bogues said.
Police have since forwarded a charge of possession of controlled substance to the Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, Bogues said.
“Bath salts” have been blamed for a handful of particular vicious assaults across the U.S. recently, Bogues said, who described the drugs as “volatile.”
Reporter Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.
