Police find legal high in Swindon (From Swindon Advertiser)

Police find legal high in Swindon

2:00pm Thursday 18th March 2010 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
• Comments(18)

POLICE fear Meow Meow could claim another young life after seizing the drug for the first time in Swindon.

At least five teenagers have been stopped by doorstaff trying to enter pubs and clubs with what police believe is the drug known as mephedrone.

A number of the gram-sized hits have been sent to the lab for testing, but officers are confident the batch will yield a positive result.

The shock discovery within the last fortnight comes days after the drug was linked to the death of two teenage boys in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire.

Pals Nick Smith, 19, and Louis Wainwright, 18, took the substance during a night out clubbing.

One report said the pair were believed to have access to the heroin substance methadone, which they used to bring them down from the high of mephedrone.

Last night Sergeant Scott Hargreave, who heads Swindon’s dedicated Drugs team, said meow meow should be classified and made illegal.

“It’s like a game of Russian roulette,” he said.

“These kids don’t know what they’re sniffing.

“They don’t know what’s in it or what it might be cut with. They are potentially putting their life at risk.

“The Government has got to look at classifying it.”

The Home Office is currently waiting for a report from the Advisory Council on Misuse of Drugs, something Jenny Harries, NHS Swindon Director of Public Health is supporting.

“A number of very serious adverse health effects have already been reported in people who misuse mephedrone, such as dangerous heart rhythms and changed levels of consciousness,” she said.

“However there is still a lot to learn, so we therefore strongly support the call for mephedrone to be investigated more thoroughly to determine the potential harm to humans.

“In the mean time, we would really discourage anyone from taking a substance where the effects are unknown and could be highly dangerous.

“Mephedrone is clearly marked as ‘not for human consumption’, and we would recommend that people adhere to this.”

Meow meow costs just £10 a gram and can give a similar high as the class-A drug ecstasy and is being advertised on the internet.

The feelings experienced through taking the drug can range from minor symptoms such as agitation, palpitations, headaches, along with nausea and feeling anxious to more serious effects including convulsions, hallucinations and chest pains.

Dr Ian Kendall, consultant in the Emergency department at Great Western Hospital, said “We regularly see people that have taken unknown substances and most require a period of observation, but sadly, on occasion people can become seriously ill through substance abuse.”

The bottom line from doctors is that meow meow – also known as MC, bubbles, 4MMC, drone, meph, charge and bounce – should not be taken under any circumstances.

But with Swindon Police saying mephedrone is now the fourth drug of choice among Swindon clubbers after cocaine, ecstasy and ketamine, the warnings may not be heeded.

Sgt Hargreave, who is based at Gablecross Police Station, said: “Meow meow is a synthetic drug. It’s man made and more crystal-like than cocaine, which is more powdery.”

Any drugs intelligence can be passed onto Sgt Hargreave and his team by calling 0845 408 7000.

THE DRUG meow meow is originally from China and has been shipped to the UK over the last two years.

Not much is known about the drug, but one 14-year-old girl, who is thought to have taken it at a party near Brighton, is believed to have died as a result.

In Sweden an 18-year-old died from taking the drug and it has now been banned there, as well as in Israel, Norway and Finland.