TYLER (KYTX) - K-2 then bath salts, both synthetic items available over the counter to your kids and both banned.
But there's a new legal way some people are trying get high.
Police say if you hear your kids talking about Pump It Powder, be concerned.
While it's marketed as an "enhanced plant vitamin" and not for human use, many are abusing it to get high.
"These are very dangerous substances," says Dr. Evans Smith with the East Texas Medical Center.
Dr. Smith says synthetic substances like Pump It Powder can drive more people through the doors of the emergency room.
"Getting a lot of calls from parents of kids who end up in the hospital," says Sgt. Brad Dumit.
Police worry too about the abnormal behavior it causes in its users.
"Have an affect on the receptors in the brain and latching on and the high can continue for hours if not days at a time," says Dr. Smith.
But that high is what attracts some to the product.
"It's actually pretty addicting from what I've heard.... Have heard of hallucinations the first day, and being able to stay up 3-4 days on pump it," says one person on the forum.
"They can snort it, can smoke it, can put it in their food. Basically can take it anyway they want to take it," says Sgt. Brad Dumit.
It's expensive, and people who can't find it in stores get it online.
And to the disappointment of doctors, it's legal.
"People who profit off of this are going to continue to find ways around the law," says Dr. Smith.
In forums users describe the sensation as similar to what you'd experience on cocaine or meth.
"Can cause seizures and death, hallucinations, paranoia," says Dr. Smith.
Dr. Smith says it's filling emergency rooms and risking lives, a new high, easy to buy.
In those forums there are even ties to Texas, people claim many similar products are coming from our state.
We did not find Pump It Powder in shops in Tyler.
Dr. Smith says the chemical make up is much stronger than that of drugs you can find on the street, and it has a delayed affect on the person so they usually end up using more and overdosing.
Users also say pump it powder is quickly addictive.
The powder stimulates the central nervous system.
