“It’s coming,” a Bangor police detective warned in an ominous newspaper story last week.

He was talking about the latest drug scourge, bath salts, and how the epidemic has been centered in Bangor for the past several months.

The recent Portland Press Herald story described some of the drug’s frightening effects, including hallucinations and paranoia.

One man was found using his teeth to remove insects he thought were burrowing under his skin. Another talked of hiding naked in the woods. A woman felt men with silencers on guns were chasing her.

Last summer, a man ran through a Bangor neighborhood with a high-powered automatic weapon, believing people were chasing him.

Bangor has been particularly hard-hit. All of the city’s paramedic units were tied up on a recent night, responding to six calls in a four-hour period.

We would like to think that the spread of this drug is not inevitable, that users in Lewiston, Auburn, Portland and other Maine cities are smart enough to avoid this deadly stuff.

We should be able to learn from Bangor’s unfortunate example.

Police, drug counselors, teachers, colleges and parents must be proactive about educating potential drug users before this becomes a problem here, as well.

Bath salts are extremely dangerous and are not a “recreational” drug worth using.

Let’s get the word out now, loud and clear.

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The opinions expressed in this column reflect the views of the ownership and editorial board.