Health - Online sales of legal alternatives to class A drugs raise safety fears

[enquirewithin]

Legal alternatives to cocaine, ecstasy and amphetamines that are sold online are the latest in a new wave of stimulants that could change the way drugs are bought and sold. The drugs are available to anyone with an email address and a PayPal account. The fact that they are legal and that other stimulants are being developed could alter the whole drugs scene, according to research carried out by DrugScope, the independent information centre on drugs. People who have tested one of the drugs describe sensations similar to those of illegal class A drugs.

There has been much internet discourse about the new stimulants and two in particular: mephedrone - nicknamed "meph" - and methylone. The former sells for about £14 a gram, which is enough for five oral doses. It has many of the effects of MDMA, amphetamines and cocaine and users report intense euphoria, talkativeness and increased tactile sensitivity. It is described as being "two molecular tweaks away" from MDMA and crystal meth, and more closely related to cathinonem, the active ingredient in qat.

The drug, which is made in Chinese laboratories, is imported legally to the UK and sold online from British and Austrian websites or in shops that sell drug paraphernalia. It is often sold on websites as "plant food". One site in the UK reports that it has just imported 2kg of mephedrone, according to tomorrow's edition of Druglink, the DrugScope journal.

Concerns have been raised about the potential harm to unwary users. Dr John Ramsey, a toxicologist at St George's University of London, is also director of Tic Tac Communications, a drug analysis body that studies recreational drugs. Ramsey says the use of the new drugs is a public health concern. He told Druglink: "They cause effects pretty much like the drugs they are derived from. People end up in A&E because they take stimulants, and they end up in A&E because they take these chemicals. "Their acute effects are pretty much indistinguishable from MDMA and amphetamines.

"But we have no information on their toxicity because they have never been used as drugs until recently, so there have not been any formal studies. The only real reports we get are from people who either write them up in chatrooms or discussion groups, or end up in A&E." A Danish teenager died in last May and was in possession of mephedrone but toxicology reports were inconclusive. One effect of mephedrone can be that it causes compulsive redosing, known as "fiending", where users intend to take only a small amount, but end up consuming their entire supply. "I did eight grams of meph over the weekend," reported one user. "My heart is still beating strangely and my mouth has all the skin peeled off on the inside." Ramsey believes the drugs have become popularised as a consequence of the government's moves to make the benzylpiperazine (BZP) class of chemicals illegal. "There will always be something on the horizon that is falling outside the legislation," said Ramsey. "The law cannot keep up with what is happening on the street. What we need to do is to explain to users the potential risks they are running." A Home Office spokesperson said: "If a compelling case is made for any 'legal high' to be added to the list of controlled drugs under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 because they pose a significant health and social problem, we will not hesitate to seek parliament's agreement to do so following reference to, and advice from, the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/20...ugs-stimulants

Reputation Comments on this post:

	Good post, bad press - sad to see these things getting attention...seems like we've seen this cycle before.
	agreed.goodpost...bad press!!
	good article, its wierd the drugs that in swim's opinion safer are illegal so people resort to using unhealthier, legal ...

[Partyhighpills]

You make some very important points about the alternative drug scene and clearly there needs to be some form of regulation for this as an industry. However it is important to recognize that like anything else such drugs must be used responsibly and with moderation. One of the reasons that this scene began was to act as a parallel to the illegal drug scene in order to offer safer alternatives to those using potentially harmful drugs.

Now I must state that I am a legal distributor of these substances and therefore hold a clear bias on the matter. That said, I can say from experience both in using these substances and from customer feedback, that the only likely harm has come from using them in conjunction with other substances or abusive drinking.

If there is a danger derived from the use of these substances, we must be very clear and cautious in identifying exactly what that danger is.

[Sarko]

The Guardian has had a real hard-on for the legals scene and Mephedrone in particular. I'm sick of the "8 grams in one night" comment being rolled out. It's ridiculous, anyone who does that much (if it is even real) is just plain stupid, mad or lying. That comment alone is being used continually as a stick to beat the legals scene with.

I will agree with that we don't know a lot about these newer drugs, but at the same time, people fiend on MDMA and plenty other drugs. It's up to the individual to use moderation, be it illegals, legals, alcohol, food or whatever.

[Doe222]

swim feels there needs to be more research put into these rc's before they can be classed. at the minute they are unknown and only starting to make an emergence in the clubbing scenes as alternatives to the likes of extasy, mdma and cocaine. swim has tried mephedrone on a few occassions and likes it. he found it to be alot like
extasy and makes for a good night and a not so bad "next day come down", but wouldnt do it too often. anybody know of any known side effects etc???? would like to know to be careful

[cosmicruler]

maybe because some of these vendors are unscrupulous and sell these RCs to any1..!!!

there wasnever any problems in NewZealand when the Methylone was 1st sold to a trial group of people who all admitted 'ecstacy' use/abuse...
Education for the masses is the key,not an outrite ban that will only drive up prices and make some of these unscrupulous vendors even richer...


swims 2c..


peace

[Samadhi]

Rome will soon burn. It got too big and too easy to do this, now people are blowing in the faces of pissed off dogs and expecting to never get bit...

In swims opinion it is only a matter of time before research chemicals become very clandestine and/or never heard of in anywhere.

fun while it lasted eh?

[Evil GIR]

Like they can already stop people making and disributing lsd, mdma, coke, cannabis.
Everything just goes underground.

[I<3Salvia]

Swim doesn't like this, the pharmaceutical companies can dish out new analogs everyday that can create some of the effects of the chemicals that have been made illegal. However we don't know the long term health effects of taking such chemicals. People need to focus on making the originals legal and regulated instead of hunting down newer untested drugs. It's just not worth it to play that kind of risk with your health.

[enquirewithin]

ATS (Amphetamine Type Stimulants) are big business in the US. No need to take the alarmist journalism in this article seriously. My cat has taken taken illegal stimulants to excess and swears the after effects of any amphetamines are much worse than than most beta ketones (eg. the after effects of MDMA are worse than it's beta ketone analogue methylone). However, recently anecdotal evidence is mounting to suggest that for some people 'mephedrone' has some very alarming side effects (some 'RCs' like 4-MTA are even deadly). Methamphetamine and cocaine have very well researched side effects. Piperazines, however, seem to have little to recommend them.

[Samadhi]

Piperizines are a horrible excuse for a stimulant... oh the headaches... oh the wishing.... WHYYY???

The thing that scares me about betas are their ability to have little to no side effects, sometimes one needs the side effects to remember why they take certain drug in gonzos opinion. It feels like there needs to be a stop before you start again, if swim doesn't come down fully then it doesn't round it out.

Swim loves the MDMAngover blues where he gets a day or so of feeling pretty baseline dullness-man, doing his job having a day to not really socialize, i guess it makes his personal life seem simple and calculated.

But alot of people sadly cannot get LSD like it was back in the seventies so it seems that the designer drugs are going to have their round of hand-chomping, and if they do it with them, it'll be pretty sad.

who knows... but this looks like another inconvenience to tackle for recreational substances.

Reputation Comments on this post:

Good point about the "sweet n sour" of recreational fun

[FormulaRed]

RC's are both illegal and legal in many countries. If you happen to posses any of the RC's; I say, "Don't run the entire mile." Due to the short history of human use. Meaning RC's have little to no info on what harm they may cause, long term nor short and each experience differs from person to person.

"People should consider carefully before choosing to use these substances."

So RC's should be taken with extreme cuation. At such minute doses, from 0.005g, can cuase desired effects.

Reputation Comments on this post:

You make some good points

[enquirewithin]

The substance 'mephedrone' is mentioned in this article. Some people are abusing it a very unintelligent way-- it seems to cause bluing and swelling of extremities in some, especially when taken in large amounts over time.

Reputation Comments on this post:

good post people get caught up in the 'hype' and tend to forgtt the reality, nd love the Avatar

[FormulaRed]

Yes, indeed. Meph is not looking like a chemical that should not be consumed at all, its not looking too good.

[buzzman]

Mephedrone is the only side effect free drug SWIM has experienced, and his 2 other friends. Were either getting the good batch, or were just lucky.

[Alfa]

Originally Posted by FormulaRed

Yes, indeed. Meph is not looking like a chemical that should not be consumed at all, its not looking too good.

Meph(Methyl-Ephedrine) is completely unrelated to mephedrone. Its a different drug.