Vernacular

Huh?  Vernacular is the term used for an old word with a new meaning... Today my word..or words are "Bath Salts!" 
Then:  For years, I was not a shower taker....not that I didn't use water to cleanse myself, I just used to like to take baths.  They were relaxing and beneficial not only to my pores but to my sanity.  I didn't really need bubbles just the semi-oily feeling of sliding into the bath where I could relax and enjoy a few moments of peace and quiet.  Just standing in the shower never gave me the same results... (no wonder kids don't enjoy standing in the corner..same thing...kind of.. minus the water.)  I would lock the door, slither in, close my eyes and enjoy the aroma therapy in solitude...until the water cooled.  Then I might just add more hot H2O or decide my time was up and rinse off and wash my hair under the shower.  Bath salts were never too conducive to washing the tresses.
Now:  The headline in yesterday's newspaper was Be Very Afraid of Bath Salts!   (There goes my aroma-therapy) Bath salts (drugs) are now even prevalent in our area.  Just recently, a man totally nude, ran into a home in Genoa screaming that someone was trying to kill him. He ran into the homeowner's shower. Another woman, naked, tried to kill her toddler and her dog. Another still, held a knife to a toddler's neck. And we thought marijuana was bad!  These drugs are so dangerous that it's too risky for even sensitive K-9 noses to be trained to sniff them out. Law enforcement says the affects of bath salts on individuals is so tenuous that the rule is to attempt to safely subdue them and forget trying to treat them.  Even emergency medical personnel have no way of knowing what drug compound the offender has taken or how....they can be sniffed, injected or swallowed.  Law enforcement, medical facilities and the education system are now concerned that "the bath salts drug epidemic will be rolling into schools this fall!" There have been head shops raids and newly adopted laws attempting to squelch the prevalence of this new, homicidal fad. Overseas markets are now renaming these designer drugs are "fish food." "plant food," and "glass cleaner!"  At a recent drug forum in Onondaga County, a state trooper informed the audience of a website that might enlighten his audience to recognizing a bath salts user. www.erowid.org. Sadly, "It's a drug site for drug users, by drug users!"

As I type, I yearn for the days when I would say, "Calgon, take me away!" and I wouldn't end up in stripes:-(