Bath Salts Will Not Turn You Into a Cannibal

On May 26, 2012, Rudy Eugene, a 31-year-old car wash employee, violently attacked Ronald Poppo, a 65-year-old houseless man he encountered on Miami's McArthur Causeway. Eugene gnawed off most of his victim's face in an 18-minute assault that ended after he was shot by a police officer. Based on no evidence, and on one police officer's speculation alone, news outlets all over the world caught wind of the bizarre incident, attributing Eugene's savage violence to the use of "bath salts," -- a term used to describe synthetic cathinones like mephedrone (4-MMC), alpha-PVP, and