Yesterday, the Adver reported the experiences of a mephedrone user whose life was almost ruined by the drug commonly known as meow meow. The Government has announced it will ban the substance. Today, we relate the first-hand account of a man who defends the drug

"I have been recreationally using drugs for about three years now and have had no adverse effects despite having taken LSD, speed, cocaine, MDMA (ecstasy) and others such as cannabis.

Having taken meow meow myself on four occasions over the past month, I have to say that the supposed ‘agony’ of putting it up your nose is in fact little more than the pain you get from a pinch and does not ever last into the night. It is gone roughly two to three minutes after dosing.

Yes it makes you feel ‘loved up’ with a slight rush and you desire company and enjoy music more. What the hell is wrong with that?

If you feel intense paranoia when taking any drug I suggest that you don’t take it again as your body is not comfortable with the effects it is producing.

Neither I nor my friends have experienced any such feelings and have had an amazing time on all occasions.

As for craving alcohol, nobody I have talked to has ever had that as a side effect of taking meow. Yes, it dries your mouth out but that just makes you want ‘a’ drink, not specifically alcohol.

You letter writer stated the comedown lasted days. If you are going to take a drug with a possible comedown have some orange juice or vitamins because if you want to have a great time on something that isn’t normally in your system there is the possibility of side effects. However, depression and anger have never been part of mine nor my friends’ day afterwards.

The most anybody has experienced is a slight stomach upset, which is usually solved after a healthy meal.

As for any drug you are new to taking – I suggest you do a bit of research first as to what can possibly go wrong, I personally recommend www.drugs-forum.com which is very informative and has a variety of experiences on there.

With the anonymous person’s friend throwing up after taking it with lemonade, the drug has a horrific taste akin to ketamine on the backdrop (when it goes down your throat after nasal ingestion) and he may have had an intense gag reflex.

While I recommend that anybody with addiction problems stays away from this drug as it can be moreish, when taken in small quantities in an environment that you are comfortable in there is very little risk of bad things happening.

None of us has experienced nose bleeds or throwing up, or any bad effects.

Of the deaths that have recently been brought to media attention, three of the user had been mixing it with alcohol and heroin-esque stimulants and two others of them bought it off a dodgy street dealer and it had rat poison mixed with in.

While I appreciate all of the opinions on current UK drug policy, etc. the simple fact is that they don’t care what the majority of people do safely and in a controlled way – they will relentlessly focus on the few who give us a bad name and use those examples among the many as their reasons for banning drugs, no matter what the evidence proves.

The Government will refuse to hear logical arguments while a few idiots that are guaranteed to take a drug and have a bad reaction to it exist. Banning this drug would only make more do it in my opinion as they get the “wow-factor” of doing an illegal drug.

For all of you people saying that all druggies should sort their life out, etc. you would be surprised to learn how many professional people do them in a manner that does not draw attention to themselves.

Most of the people I know who do drugs are quite sound-minded and open people who society benefits from having around.

However, while the few people do act like complete idiots we will all be labelled as the same at our detriment, no matter what we do.

As for being legal or illegal, meow meow will still be consumed and the Government will have just lost the VAT they get from it and also risk more health problems from dodgy batches off the street."

Police ‘will target the dealers, not users’

SWINDON police will target dealers of the drug mephedrone, which has been linked to up to 25 deaths across the UK.

But divisional commander Paul Howlett was keen to emphasise yesterday that there was no intention of criminalising young people who might use the drug, popularly known as meow meow.

The force would follow national guidelines laid out by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) which said it would “initially concentrate on those people who sell and traffic this harmful drug rather than on the young people who we may find in possession of it”.

Home Secretary Alan Johnson announced on Monday that the Government is to make mephedrone a class-B drug, while a prohibition on its import would take immediate effect.

The developments came after a 14-year-old girl in Chippenham became violently ill on Saturday after consuming a cocktail of meow meow and alcohol.

She was hospitalised but has since made a full recovery.

It also followed Adver investigations which showed that the drug was readily available in Swindon and could be bought from a stall at the tented market for £15 per gram.

The ACPO lead on drugs, chief constable Tim Hollis, said of the Government’s announcement on the ban: “This decision sends out a clear message to young people that this is a dangerous and harmful drug and should not be taken. It will also serve to suppress sales and provide police with enforcement powers that will allow us to target those dealing in this drug.”

Mr Howlett added: “What we should not be doing is alienating young people through unnecessarily criminalising them, but we will continue to target those who wish to profit from the unlawful supply of controlled drugs.”