Following the death of two teenagers that may be linked to the use of Mephedrone on Monday, the legal status of the drug has become a major news story in the UK, with many news programmes taking it as their headline.

It is interesting because of the debate it is creating. More so because there is the usual cry of "make it illegal, and lock up everyone involved" but also, a more progressive view has been discussed. Dr Les King, an ex colleague of David Nutt (who was sacked from a government advisory body last year) was on Channel 4 news tonight. He stated his view that criminalising young people for posession of such substances was counter productive.

No doubt it will be made illegal as soon as is possible, (especially with an election imminent) but the case has brought into the spotlight these issues, and there are hints of a major reform of UK law regarding illegal drugs and RC's, or "legal highs" in particular.

Any thoughts?

I was under the impression it already was illegal since they came down on JWH and a few others in one swoop. I could be wrong tho.
To be perfectly frank about this, im kinda glad that this one thing is being frowned upon. Its not a safe substance, there have been plenty of reports of serious health issues caused by this substance.

I know many people who are not interested in 'RC's but yet have tried and often 'overdone' it a bit with this 4mmc. This is the problem with the prohibition.
MDMA is very hard to find these days. People that are not Drug geeks but casual users are finding out about this 'legal mdma mimic' and giving it a shot. And not really realizing the dangers of an untested chemical. Ive had someone i know say to me that if its legal it cant be bad for you.
Ive also seen people act ignorant to proper dosage with this substance. People have said to me that they took 1 or 2 grams... like they would with cocaine. Again not realizing these chemicals are fickle in their dose/response curve and safety at elevated doses. This the my biggest concern and what i feel is the reason why this mess has happened.

This is frustrating to watch and saddening to see people get hurt & killed. The Govt in the uk has acted irresponsibly in the past when dealing with ecstasy and i feel like this is a direct result.

Whats doubly frustrating is the Scare tactic. News like this will only ever bring negative attention to substance use. Many of the public will read about this and feel that another dangerous drug is after the children. Ban it they cry! Ban them all! Things like this are not helping the cause of CEL, MAPS & the like.

First JWH/SPICE then this... what next?

My heart goes out to those who have and are suffering.

Yep and the reason it will still be legal for a while is because David Nutt was working on it but got fired which caused a delay in the govt investigations into mephedrone.

I do think mephedrone is dangerous stuff so I will not mourn its disappearance. If safer drugs were legal, such as ecstacy (as David Nutt hinted it should be), I doubt those kids would have died.

So, double points for Mr Nutt.

My sympathies to the families and friends they leave behind, even if they are getting the wrong end of the stick about prohibition as usual (caused by denial because they don't want to think of their sons as 'druggies', so they blame others and the drug itself instead).

Yes - it is a tragedy what happened, and if it turns out it was the mephendrone, then it will surely be off the internet very soon. I'm not for or against RC's, I just found it interesting that on mainstream TV there was genuine discussion about criminalising drugs not necessarily being the best way to avoid such terrible things happening. Hopefully some good will come from the deaths and who knows - it may even be a step towards a sensible approach to drugs that seeks to reduce harm rather than tarnish young people with pointless criminal records.

The guy interview on Chan 4 News, The guy just under Prof Nutt that resigned (forget name), gave a good talk made some very fair and open comments, try catch it if u can!

R*R
L

Apparently these two lads were drinking heavily and then had the Mephedrone and then to top it off some Methadone - yes Methadone but it was the Mephedrone that killed them or so the media claims.

Nothing to do with the mix with alcohol and methadone???

Whilst it’s terrible that these young men have passed away I don’t believe there is conclusive evidence that their deaths were attributable to Mephedrone yet. As most drug users tend to take a variety of substances I think I will wait to hear more information about these fatalities before making any conclusions.

Personally I like the feeling of Mephedrone, but after a couple of sessions and a lot of reading on the subject I am staying away from it myself. Too much of a short history of use, too many stories of blue knees and other bizarre effects for my liking.

Anyone else also thinking back to the 2CB-FLY RC mix up death recently? It is rather odd that they both died...

The storm has been building for a while now in the South West, and making headlines quite often, but there was never any evidence available for the propagandists to really stir things up with.

The fact that such a frenzy has brewed so quickly, before post-mortems could be carried out, when we know the guys were on a potentially lethal cocktail of alcohol and methadone, and we know that the two cases were connected, shows just how eager and desperate those forces were to get some high profile mephedrone-related damage/death into the front pages of the national media.

They had been waiting for ages for something like this, and they had to jump on it quickly, sensationalising it until the truth became lost in the cacophony, before the opportunity was lost. No good waiting for the actual post mortem and actual evidence in case it didn't go according to plan, spoiling this rare opportunity. If it turns out that the guys just mixed quite a lot of two CNS depressants and really messed it all up, do you think we'll see

Mephadrone Innocent! Public apology issued! Bandwagon abandoned!???

Although the media isn't all bad, check out the bbc 'have your say' for mostly balanced and informed responses on this hot topic

My mates were getting meow for £4 a gram about 6 months ago, no shit, easy and cheap, and after a couple of nights which they claimed to be alright but short, none of them have ever gone back. None of them can be bothered.

Some info on mixing alcohol and methadone [no mephedrone involved here] from http://www.camh.net/Care...mmt_clienthndbk_ch5.html
Mixing methadone with alcohol or Valium can kill you. The danger is particularly high when you first start treatment. Most methadone-related deaths involve alcohol and other drugs, and occur early in treatment.

Alcohol, Valium (or other benzodiazepine drugs, such as Ativan, Xanax, Restoril and clonazepam) and methadone are all central nervous system (CNS) depressants. If you take too much of any CNS depressant, it slows down your breathing, which can lead to heart failure and even death.

When you mix CNS depressants together, they intensify each other’s effects. This means they can make you feel more drunk or stoned than you might expect. It also means that the effect on your breathing is intensified. Combining these drugs is extremely dangerous.

RIP guys that died, I'm so sorry that before your bodies were even cold they were being manipulated by strangers for sadistic political ends

Everything i hear about mephedrone indicates that of all the MDMA analogue's, this is by far the worst. It seems to have much more side-effects like extreme vasoconstriction and even some side effects that are absent from MDMA itself.
Since it is relatively new, not much of it is realy known, but i've heared that it is potentially addictive as well.
MDMA is not a typically addictive substance, so if it realy is addictive, this is realy just a very bad version of XTC.

The real problem is not mephadrone, or methalyone, or butalyone...its the fact that people WANT to feel what MDMA provides, but since governments across the world have made getting REAL MDMA almost impossible, people turn to alternatives.

To some, legal and cheap is worth the risk. To me, it's not.

I had mephedrone a few weeks ago and i must say the peak was quite good but as soon as the comedown happens it feels like drug induced psychosis. I never thought id be experiencing such nasty effects at this time in my life. Those kind of effects were in the past for me when i used to take amphetamines, i'm glad meph is getting banned, its nasty nasty stuff and the peak aint worth the 12 hour comedown.

This is what everybody who's ever used it tels me. hangover that makes you want to take it again, thus resulting in risk of taking too much or becoming addicted to it.

And acolon_5 is right. If the real stuff would not have been made illegal, people would not want to experiment with these RC's.

Same story with LSD and RC's sold as LSD.
Or kids taking DXM to experience hallucinations.

Agreed. SWIM has found over the last couple of months a drastic change in substances, having almost 80% them being RCs! Mainly it's Meph and some 2C's that have replaced the real substances. It's becoming a really sad state since SWIM has seen so many people buy these RCs and think "since they are legal, they must be safe". It makes SWIM very sad.

There is no doubt it will be banned. This is how things work here in Britain ... the tabloids kick up a moral panic, the government reacts, kneejerk style, and the circus moves on.

It may indeed be a dangerous compound, but banning it won't make a bit of difference. There will be other routes. People will always want to experience altered states of consciousness, and the only legislative approach that will be safe and work is one that acknowledges this fundamental truth and acts accordingly.

Legalise all drugs, and issue licences to places and vendors that can sell them. Invoke consumer behaviour - it's the iTunes model; people would rather buy quality they can trust. The vendors that check quality, and are responsible will prosper; those that are cavalier will not. Educate people about the risks, so they can make informed choices.

It's the only way to break the cycle of tragic death - moral panic - head in the sand.

I'm wondering how many people who were selling the stuff are stockpiling a few ounces so that when the inevitable ban comes along, they can hike up the price, not to mention start cutting it, all to increase profit. I know that's what I would do if I was involved in such practices.

Methtical

If they ban mephedrone, than there will be some other legal chemical that's used as an alternative, like BZP.

You’re quite right – this has been happening already. I was just hearing of people stockpiling kilos of the stuff late last week.



BZP was scheduled late last year.

I think you’re right though. Even the straights have developed a taste for obscure chemicals now, I can’t see it stopping now the cat is out of the bag.

interesting article 88. Let's see how long it takes the Daily Mail to print something with that outlook.