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By Scott Harper

Zombies. We encounter fictionalized versions almost daily in entertainment media. The religion of vodoo also recognizes a type of zombie—a corpse brought back from the dead by magick. There is also evidence that a mixture of herbs and other ingredients can place a person into a trance-like condition. In this way, victims apparently have no willpower of their own, and exists in a sort-of twilight state.

During the summer of 2012, however, the news has been filled with accounts of fully-documented attacks by what many people are calling “zombies.” There have been so many of these accounts crammed into such a short span of time that many people are talking about a scenario that has played out in horror fiction time and again—the zombie apocalypse. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has repeatedly stated that this is not the case. Still, given recent events, many people disagree.

• Saturday, May 26, 2012: Body parts belonging to a missing Maryland student were found in the possession of his roommate. The roommate admitted to eating portions of the missing man.
• Saturday, May 26, 2012: A naked man was shot and killed by police in Miami after he attacked another man and ate portions of his victim’s face during the struggle.
• Sunday, May 27, 2012: In New Jersey, police forced their way into a barricaded apartment. The suspect grabbed a kitchen knife, disemboweled himself and threw his own intestines at the police.

Bath salts

• Sunday, May 27, 2012: In Florida, a man was pulled over for erratic driving. After being stopped, the man smashed his own head against parts of his car’s interior until he was bleeding badly. He then spit blood at the officer who had pulled him over.
• Friday, June 1, 2012: In California, a man was discovered standing naked over the corpse of another man. The aggressor had dismembered the victim, starting while his target was still alive.
• Saturday, June 2, 2012: In Louisiana, a man was attacked and part of his face bitten off by another man while working in his front yard.

These are only a few examples. There have been other such attacks during the summer of 2012. Some of the aggressors in these events had histories of mental instability. Others were known to drug users. There seems to be a link between several of these recent “zombie attacks” and an imitation form of LSD known as bath salts. Side effects of these drugs include severe chest pains, extreme paranoia, delusions, hallucinations and dizziness.

Bath salts have been sold—legally and under various labels—for some time. In light of recent events, the DEA has placed an emergency ban on products containing mephedrone, methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV) and methylon, which are key ingredients in bath salts. This ban will last for a full year. During that time, the DEA will attempt to determine the true risk of these drugs and decide whether or not they should remain under the label of "controlled substances."