War on "Bath Salts; Protests in Bahrain
HOLMES: Well, 25 minutes past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING. A U.S. immigration agent was killed and another wounded in an attack in Mexico. This happened on Tuesday. These I.C.E. agents were driving between Mexico City and Monterey. Now, according to federal officials, they were doing routine work, is what they call it, when they were forced off the road and surrounded by up to 10 people and shot. The other officer who is recovering right now, he has gunshot wounds to the arm and leg. These are the first I.C.E. agents ever shot in Mexico according to the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.</s>CHETRY: And check this out. In Colombia, the military seizing a fully submersible drug-smuggling submarine capable of transporting up to eight tons of drugs. They call it a Narco sub. It was empty when soldiers found it. Authorities say it was able to travel to the Coast of Mexico without having to surface. They say this is the first time they've seized a drug-carrying vessel that operated completely underwater.</s>HOLMES: We're going to turn to a popular and disturbing trend, especially among teenagers. These things called "bath salts", but they're anything but. They have a similar effect to cocaine and meth and it's legal in most places.</s>CHETRY: Yes. That's the most shocking part is that you can actually buy this at the store. This "fake cocaine" as they call it. You don't need to even leave your home to get your hands on some, because you can order it online, as well. Our Deb Feyerick gives us an inside look on how easy it is to buy this dangerous product. And this is the amazing part, you could never come in here and be carrying cocaine with you, but you have these two little vials.</s>DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right. And this is what we ordered online. They come in these sleek little packages just like this. They come under a variety of names - Blizzard, Ivory Snow, Stardust. MDPD which stands for methylenedioxypyrovalerone or mephedrone for short is a synthetic chemical. It's marketed under the name bath salts and it doesn't show up in any drug tests and is extremely addictive.</s>FEYERICK: This one's called Bliss. It's 500 milligrams. People have taken as little as 10 milligrams and had really bad reactions to it - hallucinations, suicidal impulses. Basically it took us less than two minutes to order this fake cocaine.</s>FEYERICK (voice-over): But demand is so high, the seller calls to say it's sold out. Instead we'll get something twice as potent called Serenity Now.</s>FEYERICK (on camera): On a scale of one to 10, I mean, how scary is this, would you say?</s>GARY BOGGS, DEA SPECIAL AGENT: I'd say - I'd say 15.</s>FEYERICK (voice-over): After it arrives, we open one of the small vials in front of DEA Special Agent Gary Boggs.</s>FEYERICK (on camera): It looks like cocaine.</s>BOGGS: I don't know anyone that buys bath salts in a quarter gram or half gram and they spend $40 or $50 for that.</s>FEYERICK (voice-over): And it's done in total anonymity.</s>BOGGS: With drugs like these, there's no back street, you know, alleyways where you're meeting your drug dealer or whatever. You just Google it.</s>FEYERICK (on camera): Right.</s>BOGGS: You know, you Google your drug dealer and you've got it delivered to your own home with a credit card.</s>FEYERICK (voice-over): The package doesn't say what's in it or how much to take.</s>BOGGS: How it affects you may not be the same way it affects me or someone else. You could take it one day and be fine, take it another day and have a completely different response.</s>FEYERICK: Triggering in some cases severe psychotic episodes.</s>FEYERICK (on camera): How big is the threat, the danger?</s>BOGGS: You just don't know what you're buying. You don't know what you're putting in your body. The long-term effects of these drugs can be very dangerous.</s>FEYERICK: So technically I'm holding a jar of poison and somebody could very well ingest this?</s>BOGGS: That's - that's exactly right.</s>FEYERICK: Now, we went to YouTube and we Googled mephedrone and we watch people reportedly on the stimulant, one man was moving uncontrollably, almost as if possessed. And, again, this comes from places like Pakistan, in China, India, but nobody knows exactly what's in it and you're paying, you know, really, $40 or $50 for this.</s>CHETRY: Yes, I mean, it's - I mean, we're showing it here but it's just - it looks innocuous.</s>FEYERICK: Yes.</s>CHETRY: It's just very easy to get.</s>FEYERICK: That's 500 -</s>CHETRY: It actually could look like one of those make-up, you know, the mineral powder vials.</s>FEYERICK: That's exactly right. That's exactly right. And that's 500 grams in there. Now, it takes 10 grams to trigger a psychotic episode in some people.</s>HOLMES: Wow.</s>FEYERICK: -- some people, so you really have to be careful. And we're talking about it. But the - the Drug Enforcement Administration's really, really worried about this and they're trying to get the message out that this is not safe. That you have to be really careful. That if you're going to try this, you have to really beware of the consequences.</s>CHETRY: Well, hopefully people wouldn't. But are they - are they going to be able to sort of head this off? Shut this down? Or at least try to get some legislation?</s>FEYERICK: Well, it's outlawed in a couple of states. Florida has now made it a felony to even carry it in the states. The reason they did it is they did it just now in time for spring break because they were afraid that kids would walk into gas stations or tobacco stores or anywhere else trying to pick this up and saying, hey, let's try this thing and they just didn't want to take that risk.</s>HOLMES: That is scary stuff.</s>FEYERICK: It is.</s>CHETRY: It really is.</s>HOLMES: Deb Feyerick, thank you so much for that this morning. At the bottom of the hour here now, giving you a look at some of the stories we're keeping a close eye on, including what could be a rough day for passengers who are flying United. The airline has temporarily grounded its entire fleet of 757 jet liners for emergency maintenance. Ninety-six planes will be taken out of service officials say. This is to perform follow-up checks on air data computers. Only domestic flights are affected here. United hopes to return to full-service sometime today.</s>CHETRY: Well, Bernie Madoff tells "The New York Times" that he suspected some banks knew about his Ponzi scheme and turned a blind eye to it. In his first prison interview, Madoff maintained that his family knew nothing about the Ponzi scheme. He said he also never thought that they would suffer so much for his crimes. Madoff's son Mark committed suicide back in December. He said he wanted to attend the funeral, but the prison would not allow it. Madoff is serving a 150-year sentence.</s>HOLMES: And we're seeing reports of peaceful protests in Bahrain this morning. At least two demonstrators, however, have been killed this week in violent clashes with security forces. Bahrain's king has apologized, he's promising an investigation -- also promising to make good on the promises of reform. Bahrain, of course, is a key U.S. ally in the region. But the State Department has expressed concern about violence and urging all parties to exercise restraint. Meanwhile, we have, like I said, thousands of people pack into the streets, especially in Bahrain's capital. Scene similar to what we've been seeing in Cairo. Nicholas Kristof is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for "The New York Times." He's been covering the protest there, joins us on the phone from Bahrain. Nicholas, always good to have you here with us. Is it clear what these protesters want?</s>NICHOLAS KRISTOF, NEW YORK TIMES (via telephone): Well, their demands are changing. Initially, they talked about wanting more democracy and to have political prisoners released. But they were really outraged at the government's brutality toward the peaceful protests earlier in the week and at those two deaths. And -- so, increasingly, they're calling for the -- essentially -- the overthrow of the ruling family and the conversion of Bahrain into a real constitutional monarchy in which the king would reign, but not rule.</s>HOLMES: We talked -- you just mentioned those two deaths, though, and there have been some violent clashes. Has that been the norm or the exception there? Does it seem to be a concerted effort by the government to really crack down violently on these protesters?</s>KRISTOF: Earlier in the week, there's no question. That there was a concerted, deliberate effort to use a truly stunning amount of force. The -- when you had very small groups of peaceful protesters, even of women just sitting unthreateningly on the ground, the riot police would charge them, fire extraordinary amounts of tear gas at them, shoot rubber bullets at them and that was what led to the first fatality. And then in the funeral for that person yesterday morning, the police fired buck shots at the mourners and killed another person. And I was at the -- at that second funeral this morning, a few hours ago. And that went peacefully. The police stood back and they -- I think they realized that they went too far and aggravated the situation.</s>HOLMES: Nicholas, does it seem like the government's efforts are working at this point? Or are these protests continuing to gain momentum?</s>KRISTOF: Well, the attempted crack down certainly raised them to a new level, outraged people all the more. I spoke to a young businessman this morning who said that he would never have dared go out and protest. But he was so infuriated by the government crackdown by the way they were killing these people that he, for the first time, did decide to go out in the streets and fight to overthrow the regime. Now that the regime has backed off, it's a little hard to say where things will go. It is possible that, you know, that similar concessions will win the day and that there will be some kind of a truce and agreement to have more democracy, some more concessions. And then people will go home. It's just very hard to predict.</s>HOLMES: All right. Nicholas Kristof for us in Bahrain -- Nicholas, always good to talk to you. Thank you so much for hopping on the line this morning.</s>CHETRY: And up next, Will and Kate reportedly planning their first trip as a married couple this summer. We're going to tell you where they might be headed and some of the other details for the soon-to-be royal couple.</s>HOLMES: Also, we'll have your fashion fix coming up. It's not just about the clothes. It's not just about the models. It's all about who has that coveted front row seat. It's 34 minutes past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING.