KALAMAZOO, MI -- A Western Michigan University professor will conduct research with her students on the behavioral pharmacology of bath salts thanks to a grant from the National Institutes of Health.

Lisa Baker, a psychology professor, will use the three-year, $416,385 grant to implement animal models of substance abuse and evaluate the abuse potential of the bath salts.

Drugs known as bath salts "encompass a variety of recreational designer drugs that were called 'bath salts' to get around laws banning their importation and were disguised as true bath salts and were labeled as 'not for human consumption,'" a WMU press release about the grant stated.

The 'bath salt' drugs are synthetic cathinones derived from a plant in Africa and the Middle East that were first synthesized in the 1920s. They were rediscovered by underground chemists in the 2000s and used in designer drugs. In 2011 they were classified as schedule I substances in the United States, meaning they have no accepted medical use and they have high abuse potential.

They are sold online under brand names including "Purple Wave," "Zoom" and "Cloud Nine." Before 2011 they were often sold in small independent stores and head shops in the United States.

Baker's grant is through the Academic Research Enhancement Award--AREA--program sponsored by the NIH. AREA supports research projects at schools that provide baccalaureate or advanced degrees for a significant number of the nation's research scientists, but that have not been major recipients of National Institutes of Health support.

Bakers research will examine the effects of synthetic cathinones in combination with other commonly abused stimulants, like cocaine, MDMA, commonly known as Ecstasy, and methamphetamine.

The outcomes of Baker's and her students' research will expand on current knowledge regarding the behavioral and pharmacological effects of synthetic cathinones and could potentially impact future developments in substance abuse treatment, according to the press release.