The government is set to prioritise in finding out more about the dangers of using the substance, mephedrone which has become the fourth most popular substance in an academic survey undertaken by magazine, Mixmag. Its advisory panel has written to the Home Secretary warning that substances like these could have “serious public health implications.”

To get round the Medicines Act, mephedrone is widely sold online as a “plant food” (even though it has no acknowledged use as a fertiliser), and can be snorted, taken in pill form, mixed with a drink or injected (although rare). Users have described the effect as similar to that of cocaine and ecstasy. The results of the survey have revealed:

51% of mephedrone users suffered from headaches; 43% from heart palpitations; 27% from nausea; and 15% from cold or blue fingers.

It will be interesting to see comments from the newly formed body, the Independent Council of Drug Harms (formed by ex-head of the ACMD Professor Nutt).

The government’s former chief drugs adviser, David Nutt, has set up a new drug advisory panel independent of the official Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD).  The Independent Council of Drug Harms, Prof. Nutt has stated, “will take over that particular role of the ACMD” and will provide independent scientific evidence about the impact of drugs.  Several former and current ACMD members join the new body which now consists of approximately 20 specialists.

News from the regions reaches us with a West Midlands community safety campaign warning about the dangers of mixing alcohol and cocaine, saying that cocaethylene increases the risk of sudden death by 18 times. Clearly this shows there are growing concerns about this combination of substance abuse over the festive period.