Mephedrone still a prevalent problem in York (From York Press)

Mephedrone still a prevalent problem in York

9:42am Friday 19th March 2010 in The Menace of Mephedrone By Jennifer Bell, jennifer.bell@thepress.co.uk

Louise Taylor, York Police drugs liaison officer, with seized amounts of mephedrone

A LEADING narcotic specialist in York has said the danger drug mephedrone was still a prevalent problem in the city.

Det Con Louise Taylor, drugs liaison officer for York, said there is more mephedrone being seized than cocaine.

“We are seizing mephedrone on a weekly basis,” she said.

“People are still openly taking this in clubs and pubs because it is legal, but what people are too naïve to understand is that if we see somebody with white powder then we are going to arrest them and seize that substance because we do not know what it is.

“About 99 per cent of what we seize and send off for testing is mephedrone.”

Evidence continues to be given to The Press of the devastating impact of the drug as a petition backing our campaign, The Menace Of Mephedrone, which aims to outlaw the “legal high”, continues to gather momentum and support from the public.

A parent, who did not want to be named, said: “This drug needs to be banned as fast as possible. I am losing a daughter to this horrible drug that eats away at your body.

“My 18-year-old daughter, once a healthy nine stone, now weighs around seven stone – as much as my nine year old daughter.

“I have watched her spiral out of control but as she is eighteen and doesn’t live with me so I can not do much. It is sickening and the Government has to act and soon.”

Selling mephedrone for human consumption is illegal in the UK, but it easily obtainable because it is legal to sell it for use in the garden.

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 compiling evidence for the Home Office on whether it should be banned.