PRIME Minister Gordon Brown has given his strongest hint yet that The Press will win its campaign to have the danger drug mephedrone banned, after he is handed a crucial report from advisors on Monday.

Mr Brown has suggested the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs would recommend that mephedrone, also known as M-Cat or meow meow, should be made a Class B drug.

The move follows a number of deaths that have been linked to the “legal high” including that of 24-year-old Lois Waters, whose inquest was opened and adjourned in Scarborough today.

Other deaths linked to the drug include Louis Wainright, 18, who died in the Scunthorpe area last week following a night out and the latest victim – Joslyne Marie Cockburn, 18, – who died after a night out in her home town of Newcastle.

York MP Hugh Bayley today said he had signed a Parliamentary motion calling on the Government to bring forward an urgent review of mephedrone. He said: “It is clear that this substance is very dangerous, and can have tragic consequences. I want the Government to urgently review the mephedrone to make it a controlled substance and to better educate young people about the dangers of using ‘legal highs’.

“The Government and the independent drugs advisory group need to act fast to prevent any further tragedies.”

A spokeswoman for York Hospital said staff were dealing with a surge of admissions from people experiencing the powerful “legal high”.

The recreational drug which comes in crystal, powder, capsule or liquid form and is more commonly known as Meow, bubbles, M-CAT or 4-MMC. It has led to a rising number of users in the city being rushed to the accident and emergency department at York Hospital.

Symptoms include paranoia, anxiety, palpitations, increased heart rate and convulsions.

A spokesperson for York Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: “We have treated a number of people over the past few months that have taken this drug, and we are continuing to see a handful of people a week in our emergency department, mainly at weekends.

“The severity of their condition can vary, however we have had some people who have been seriously ill.”

The Press launched our campaign, The Menace of Mephedrone, in January following the collapse of a 17-year-old student at Woldgate College in Pocklington who had dabble din the drug. .

• The Press is handing in our petition in, which now has about 700 signatures, to 10 Downing Street next week. Now is the last chance you have to sign our Menace of Mephedrone petition. Go online at thepress.co.uk