THE families of two teenage boys who died after taking the danger drug mephedrone have backed The Press’s campaign to outlaw the “legal high” saying: “No family should have to go through what we have gone through”.

Nick Smith, 19, and his friend Louis Wainwright, 18, died after taking the drug on a night out.

In a joint statement, the families said: “We support The Press’s campaign to have this drug banned and to raise awareness of how dangerous it is. We think the Government should respond and ban this drug. We would like to spare any other families going through what we have gone through. It is vital that young people and parents are aware of the dangers of mephedrone.”

Mephedrone can be sold legally in the UK providing it is not for human consumption.

Nick, a chef, and Louis, a welder, went out clubbing with friends in Scunthorpe on Sunday, March 14, into the early hours of Monday.

Police were called to Louis’s home in the nearby village of Winteringham on Monday after he collapsed and died.

Officers were later called to a flat in Scunthorpe after friends found Nick dead.

Police believe both teenagers had taken mephedrone also known as meow meow and M-CAT and also had access to heroin substitute methadone which they used to bring them down from the high of mephedrone.

The Press launched its Menace Of Mephedrone campaign in January after a sixth-former at Woldgate College in Pocklington collapsed after taking the drug.

The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs is currently compiling evidence for the Home Office on whether it should be banned.

Support for The Press’s campaign to criminalise the “legal high” has grown in the past two months, with teachers, students, local drug workers and relatives of mephedrone users backing our call for the drug to be made illegal.

National newspapers reported at the weekend that the personal use of mephedrone is likely to be banned by the end of the year in the wake of Louis and Nick’s deaths.

A senior Home Office source said it would be “very surprising” if the drug was not designated as a Class C substance later this year, provided the scientific case for doing so is proven in a report into its effects by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs which is due to be submitted to Home Secretary Alan Johnson by the end of this month.

• Four men, aged 26, 20, 17, and 26, were arrested in connection with the investigation into the deaths of Louis and Nick.

They have now been released on police bail pending further enquiries.

Chief Inspector Walker said: “I strongly advise people to heighten their awareness with regard to the obvious dangers of this drug.”

He urged anyone with information with regard to the supply of MCAT to speak to a police officer in confidence.