Zombies aren’t real—right?

That being the case, it makes one wonder why the CDC (Center for Disease Control) is developing a program to prepare against a Zombie Apocalypse. This is not a joke.

First, in explanation, we need to look at a situation that’s new to the world of weirdness.

In recent weeks our country has experienced the disconcerting emergence of a new phenomenon—‘Zombie-ism.’

This term pertains to zombie-like behavior, including:

• Extreme aggression
• Unprovoked violence
• Increased heart rate
• Increased blood pressure
• Hallucinations and paranoia
• Hyperthermia with fevers of 106 or higher
• Suicidal focus
• Homicidal focus
• Agitation
• Extreme strength (similar to that of PCP)
• Difficult to kill (will explain below)
• Cannibalism

In the movie I Am Legend, staring Will Smith, zombies are portrayed as humans overtaken by a horrible virus, causing zombie-ism. Would that explain the CDC’s current concern?

That last item on the list, cannibalism, is bizarre but true. In Miami several weeks ago, a homeless victim fell prey to a man under the influence of a new drug. It is actually one drug in a group of new designer drugs falling into the category of substances known as synthetic cathinones—commonly known as bath salts.

When the police arrived they found the victim had been stripped naked and his face mangled. His cannibalistic attacker refused to stop biting and assaulting him, forcing the police to fire upon him.

Due to the drugs in his system, it was necessary to shoot him five times to subdue him. He seemed to be invincible—to have super human strength.

He continued to fight even in the midst of overwhelming odds, growling and lashing out as heavily armed police attempted to stop him without deadly force. In the end, deadly force was necessary.

There are three of these ‘bath salts’ that have caused the majority of the problems:

• Mephedrone
• MDPV (methylenedioxypyrovalerone)
• Methylone

Until recently, they were available under such innocuous bath salt names as Ivory Wave and Vanilla Sky, as well as a number of others.

But they have always been extremely dangerous. Injuries and deaths associated with cathinones occur in the abusers as well as the victims whom they attack.

For this reason, the DEA considered bath salts to be an imminent threat to public safety, and in October of 2011, made it illegal to purchase or own any of them.

They are still available through illegal means, of course—there will always be a demand for illegal drugs.

Individuals that have survived the use of these drugs state that they cause an overwhelming urge to do evil.

The heightened response to outside stimuli, the excessive core body temperature, and the aggression fed by a sense of invincibility make this urge to do evil more powerful than normal defense mechanisms.

For example, one man tried to stop cars on a busy freeway by punching them as they came by. Another attempted to fly off a high-rise building. Still others have gnawed flesh from their victims, and chewed paint off police cars, snarling and snapping like wild dogs.

One man said he just wanted to bite the police officer, and nothing seemed to be more important to him—he was obsessed with the thought regardless of the fact that the officer was pointing a gun at him.

To make matters worse, some of those who have experimented with these drugs have not reverted to normal after discontinuing them. Their psychotic and sociopathic behavior never leaves—they become permanent ‘wild dogs.’

The CDC has actually developed a website to distribute information on how to manage a zombie apocalypse. This is partly in fun to ‘teach the importance of emergency preparedness’, but there is also a deeper meaning.

For years, the CDC has felt that if zombie-like behavior ever emerged, it would be due to a viral infection (as in I Am Legend), or from drugs that cause zombie-istic behavioral changes in people.

Hopefully we will be able to get this latest craze under control, but even with the warnings of bizarre behavior and death, bath salt abuse continues to grow in popularity.

Some individuals tend toward self-destructive and abusive behaviors, and it is doubtful this will ever change. But one thing is for certain, if you use these dangerous drugs, the chances are very high that you will suffer permanent psychosis, or die.

I Am Legend doesn’t seem so far-fetched as it did a few years ago, does it?

For the CDC zombie website, click on the photo above or visit:

http://emergency.cdc.gov/socialmedia/zombies.asp