Bath salts: The quasi-legal drug allegedly behind Miami's cannibal attack

The dangerous synthetic thought to have played a role in a vicious mauling — of a human, by a human — can be as easy to buy as aspirin

Bath Salts can reportedly cause a user to have scary, superhuman strength that, in some cases, can render a stun gun or taser ineffective.
(Image credit: Mills, Andy/Star Ledger/Corbis)

Authorities suspect that the allegedly deranged attacker who gnawed off 75 percent of a homeless man's face in Miami on Saturday was under the influence of a dangerous yet sometimes legal drug known as "bath salts." Reports suggest that the alleged attacker, 31-year-old Rudy Eugene, was on his way to a friend's house in northwest Miami when his car broke down in the scorching 90 degree heat. He then abandoned the vehicle and stripped off his clothes. At around 2 p.m., Eugene encountered 65-year-old homeless man Ronald Poppo napping, and, for reasons that are unclear, allegedly brutally assaulted him for 18 minutes, viciously tearing at Poppo's flesh with his teeth. Police arrived and repeatedly warned Eugene to stand down before shooting him; Eugene died at the scene. Could bath salts really have been behind the day's gruesome events? Here's what you should know:

What are bath salts?

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