Legal hybrid drug becoming popular

by David Djukic

Legal drug mephedrone, which is available for purchase online, is rising in popularity with clubbers, a new study has found.

Although it has only become popular within the past year, a poll run by the National Addiction Centre in the UK has found that one in three people who were asked had used the substance in the past month.

“It's come from nowhere to become very popular,” Dr Adam Winstock of the National Addiction Centre said.

“For a drug that's been around for a relatively short amount of time, mephedrone has certainly made a big impact on the dance-drug scene.”

Legal Cocaine?

Mephedrone has been described as “a weird hybrid of MDMA mixed with cocaine” by users.

It is completely legal and available for purchase online at less than half the price charged for illegal drugs such as cocaine.

A recent survey undertaken by charity Druglink suggested that legal highs are growing in popularity as a knee-jerk reaction to the falling quality of illegal drugs.

Druglink chief executive Martin Barnes said: “Our investigation shows the significant role played by the internet in the increased availability and popularity of mephedrone and other so-called ‘legal highs’.”

Mental effects

“Treatment services are starting to report people coming forward with physical and mental health problems linked to mephedrone use, and it is vital that drug workers have guidance on how to support them,” Barnes added.

Legal drugs such as mephedrone contain a range of potentially dangerous chemicals, comprising of a chemical make-up that changes constantly.

A team of drug advisors have written to Alan Johnson, the home secretary, warning of the dangers of mephedrone, and the Government has also said it is making it a "priority" to find out more about the drug, although no action has yet been taken to secure a classification for the substance.

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