A leading Dundee drugs worker has warned an equally dangerous substitute to “bubbles” could be on the streets within three months.
Home secretary Alan Johnson announced yesterday that emergency legislation will be used to criminalise mephedrone — also known as bubbles, M-Cat and meow meow — within weeks, while a ban on importing the substance came into effect last night.
It is thought most mephedrone is manufactured in China and then imported to the UK, and once here is sold online.
Bubbles has been linked to the deaths of more than 20 people across the UK, including Dundee teenager Dean Webster. A 49-year-old Dunfermline woman is also believed to have died after taking the drug in January.
Mr Johnson’s decision came just hours after the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs recommended the drug be outlawed under the Misuse of Drugs Act.
It will be classified as a class B drug, alongside amphetamines and cannabis, with dealers facing up to 14 years in prison and users facing five years behind bars.
Accident and emergency departments across the country have been inundated with people seeking treatment after overdosing on the drug.MythMike Burns, chief executive of drugs charity CAIR, said, “For me and CAIR Scotland, the single most important thing is that we blow away the myth, and the assumption being made by young people, that because it’s legal it is safe.
“A lot of young people are exposing themselves to mephedrone and taking it in a chaotic manner.”
However, Mr Burns warned that the organised crime gangs responsible for exporting vast quantities of mephedrone to the UK would already have prepared drugs that have similar effects but a different chemical composition and so will not be subject to the same laws.
“A lot of organised crime gangs in China are looking to flood the market with these legal highs,” he said.
“We need to get ready for that by bringing in legislation to help deal with that while those gangs are readying themselves.
“Why wait until it hits the streets? Put the law into place now.
“They do it in other countries — in parts of Scandinavia they would look at any new drug as a controlled substance.”
Mr Burns said it could be just a few weeks before another form of mephedrone was being sold in the UK.Derivative”I don’t think it would even take a year,” he said.
“In three months there would be some kind of bubbles derivative, which would be as close to mephedrone as they could make it.
“I think we need legislation in place to stop this happening and stop young people picking up the message that because it’s legal it must be safe.”
The ban is expected to gain cross-party support and will be rushed on to the statute books before the general election.
Professor Les Iversen, who chairs the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, said, “I have never experienced such a widespread use in such a short space of time — there is no question this is the drug of the moment.”
The ban was welcomed by community safety minister Fergus Ewing, who has twice written to the Home Office raising the Scottish Government’s concerns concerning this “legal high.”
Mr Ewing said, “It is essential that people are aware of the very real dangers from mephedrone and similar so-called legal highs.
“I promise to work with the UK Government to act as quickly as possible to ensure that the ban will be enforced across Scotland.
“We need to work together to dispel the myth that these so-called legal highs are safe-they pose a real danger to the health of people across Scotland.”