Mephedrone is one of hundreds of
designer drugs or legal highs that have been reported in recent years, including artificial chemicals such as
synthetic cannabis and semisynthetic substances such as
methylhexanamine. These drugs are primarily developed to avoid being controlled by laws against illegal drugs, thus giving them the label of designer drugs.
David Nutt reports the re-popularization story of mephedrone in a way that can be cross referenced with a report by
Chemistry World in an article. Fiona Measham, a criminologist at the
University of Lancaster, thought the emergence of mephedrone was also related to the decreasing purity of ecstasy and cocaine on sale in the UK, a view reinforced in a report by the
National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse. The average
cocaine purity fell from 60% in 1999 to 22% in 2009 and about half of ecstasy pills seized in 2009 contained no
MDMA, and by June 2010 almost all ecstasy pills seized in the UK contained no MDMA. A similar pattern was observed in the Netherlands, with the number of ecstasy tablets containing no MDMA rising from 10% in mid-2008 to 60% by mid-2009, with mephedrone being detected in 20% of ecstasy tablets by mid-2009. The decrease of MDMA was thought to be partly due to the seizure of 33 tonnes of
sassafras oil, the precursor to MDMA, in
Cambodia in June 2008, which could have been used to make 245 million doses of MDMA. According to John Ramsey, a
toxicologist at
St George's, University of London, the emergence of mephedrone was also related to the UK government banning the
benzylpiperazine class of drugs in December 2009.
gamma-Butyrolactone (GBL), another previously "legal high", was also banned in August 2009 despite concerns it would be replaced by other drugs. By December 2009 mephedrone was available on at least 31 websites based in the UK and by March 2010 there were at least 78 online shops, half of which sold amounts of less than 200 grams and half that also sold bulk quantities. The price per gram varied from £9.50 to £14. Between July 2009 and February 2010, UK health professionals accessed the
National Poisons Information Services (NPIS) entry on mephedrone 1664 times and made 157 telephone inquiries; the requests increased month on month over this period. In comparison, over a similar time period, the entries for cocaine and MDMA were accessed approximately 2400 times. After mephedrone was made illegal the number of inquiries to the NPIS fell substantially, to only 19 in June 2010. Media organisations including the
BBC and
The Guardian incorrectly reported mephedrone was commonly used as a plant
fertiliser. In fact sellers of the drug described it as "plant food" because it was illegal to sell the compound for human consumption. In late 2009 UK newspapers began referring to the drug as
meow or
miaow (sometimes doubled as
meow meow or
miaow miaow), a name that was almost unknown on the street at the time. In November 2009, the
tabloid newspaper,
The Sun published a story stating that a man had ripped off his own
scrotum whilst using mephedrone. The story was later shown to be an online joke posted on mephedrone.com, later included in a police report with the caveat that it could be unreliable. The police report was used as a source for the story in
The Sun. Other myths the media often repeated during 2010 were that mephedrone had led to the deaths of over 20 people, teachers were unable to confiscate the drug from pupils and the government was too slow to ban the drug. Parallels were drawn between the media coverage of mephedrone and a piece of satire by
Chris Morris in 1997 on
Brass Eye when he tricked public figures into talking of the dangers of taking the fictional legal drug "cake". The
Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) have suggested that the media coverage of the drug led to its increased usage. Jon Silverman, a former BBC Home Affairs Correspondent, has written two articles discussing how the media had a strong influence over the UK government's drugs policy, particularly in that the government wished to demonstrate they were being "tough" on drugs. A survey of 1000 secondary school pupils and university students in
Tayside conducted in February 2010 found 20% of them had previously taken mephedrone. Although at the time it was available legally over the internet, only 10% of users reported purchasing it online, with most purchasing it from street dealers. Of those who had used mephedrone, 97% said it was easy or very easy to obtain. Around 50% of users reported at least one negative effect associated with the use of mephedrone, of which
teeth grinding is the most common. Detailed interviews with users in Northern Ireland similarly found that few purchased mephedrone online, with most interviewees citing concerns that their address would be traced or that family members could intercept the package. On 30 March 2010,
Alan Johnson, the then
Home Secretary, announced mephedrone would be made illegal "within weeks" after the ACMD sent him a report on the use of cathinones. The legislation would make all cathinones illegal, which Johnson said would "stop unscrupulous manufacturers and others peddling different but similarly harmful drugs". The ACMD had run into problems with the UK Government in 2009 regarding drugs policy, after the government did not follow the advice of the ACMD to reclassify
ecstasy and
cannabis, culminating in the dismissal of the ACMD chairman,
David Nutt, after he reiterated the ACMD's findings in an academic lecture. Several members resigned after he was sacked, and prior to the announcement that mephedrone was to be banned, the trend continued when Dr Polly Taylor resigned, saying she "did not have trust" in the way the government would use the advice given by the ACMD. Eric Carlin, a member of the ACMD and former chairman of the English Drug Education Forum, also resigned after the announcement. He said the decision by the Home Secretary was "unduly based on media and political pressure" and there was "little or no discussion about how our recommendation to classify this drug would be likely to impact on young people's behaviour." Some former members of the ACMD and various charity groups expressed concern over the banning of the drug, arguing it would inevitably criminalise users, particularly young people. Others expressed concern that the drug would be left in the hands of
black market dealers, who will only compound the problem. Carlin's resignation was specifically linked to the criminalisation of mephedrone; he stated: "We need to review our entire approach to drugs, dumping the idea that legally-sanctioned punishments for drug users should constitute a main part of the armoury in helping to solve our country's drug problems. We need to stop harming people who need help and support". The parliamentary debate was held on 8 April, one day after the
2010 general election had been announced, meaning it was during the so-called "
wash-up period" when legislation is passed with little scrutiny. Only one hour was spent debating the ban and all three parties agreed, meaning no vote was required. In an interview conducted in July 2010, when he was no longer a minister, Johnson admitted the decision to ban mephedrone was sped up after widespread reporting of deaths caused by the drug, and because the government wished to pass the law before parliament was dissolved prior to the upcoming general election. In January 2011, however, Johnson told the
Scunthorpe Telegraph that the decision was based only on information from the ACMD. An editorial in the April 2010 edition of
The Lancet questioned the decision to ban mephedrone, saying the ACMD did not have enough evidence to judge the potential harms caused by mephedrone and arguing that policy makers should have sought to understand why young people took it and how they could be influenced to not take it.
Evan Harris, then the
Liberal Democrat science spokesman, stated the ACMD "was not 'legally constituted as required by the
Misuse of Drugs Act, when the report on cathinones was published, since after Taylor resigned, it lacked a veterinary surgeon. In the rush to make mephedrone illegal, the act that was passed specified the inactive enantiomer of mephedrone, leaving the active form legal until the loophole was closed in February 2011 by another act of parliament. In
Chemistry World, John Mann, professor of chemistry at
Queen's University Belfast, suggested the UK create a law similar to the
Federal Analog Act of the United States, which would have made mephedrone illegal as an analog of cathinone. In August 2010,
James Brokenshire, the Home Office drugs minister, announced plans to create a new category in the Misuse of Drugs Act, through the
Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill, that would allow new legal highs to be made temporarily illegal, without the need for a vote in parliament or advice from the ACMD, as was required to categorise mephedrone. According to the
Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs, after mephedrone was made illegal, a street trade in the drug emerged, with prices around double those prior to the ban, at £20–£25 per gram. In September 2010,
Druglink reported the ban had a mixed effect on mephedrone use, with it decreasing in some areas, remaining similar in others and becoming more prevalent in some areas. In an online survey of 150 users after the ban, 63% said they were continuing to use mephedrone; of those, half claimed unchanged usage amounts (as to dosage and frequency) and half claimed decreased usage. Compared to previous surveys, more users purchased it from dealers, rather than the internet. The average price per gram was £16, compared to around £10 before the ban. The 2010
Mixmag survey of 2,500 nightclubbers found one quarter had used mephedrone in the previous month, the price had roughly doubled since it was made illegal, and it was more likely to be
cut with other substances. Of those who had already used mephedrone prior to the ban, 75% had continued to use it after the ban. Of the various drugs used by the survey participants, users were more likely to have concerns about it. Interviews with users in Northern Ireland also found the price had roughly doubled since it was made illegal, to around £30 a gram. Rather than the price rising due to increased scarcity of the drug, it is thought to have risen for two other reasons. Firstly, dealers knew there was still demand for mephedrone, but were aware the supplies may be exhausted in the future. Secondly, the dealers perceived customers were likely to be willing to pay more for an illegal substance. Professor Shiela Bird, a statistician at the
Medical Research Council, suggested the ban of mephedrone may lead to more cocaine-related deaths. In the first six months of 2009, the number of cocaine-related deaths fell for the first time in four years, and fewer soldiers tested positive for cocaine in 2009 than in 2008. She suggested this may have been due to users switching to mephedrone from cocaine, but cautioned that before full figures are available for 2009 and 2010, it will be difficult to determine whether mephedrone saved lives, rather than cost them. Other supposedly legal drugs have filled the gap in the market since mephedrone was made illegal, including
naphyrone (NRG-1) (since made illegal) and
Ivory Wave, which has been found to contain
MDPV, a compound made illegal at the same time as mephedrone. However, some products branded as Ivory Wave possibly do not contain MDPV. When tested, some products sold six weeks after mephedrone was banned, advertised as NRG-1, NRG-2 and
MDAI, were found to be mephedrone. A
Drugscope survey of drugs workers at the end of 2012 reported that mephedrone use was still widespread in the UK and that there increasing reports of problematic users. It was being taken as not only a "poor man's cocaine" but also amongst users of
heroin and
crack cocaine. Cases of intravenous use were also reported to be on the increase. ==Society and culture==