MP's mephedrone modification fears (From York Press)

MP's mephedrone modification fears

8:21am Monday 12th April 2010 in

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THE MP for East Yorkshire has welcomed plans to outlaw mephedrone – but has raised concerns the danger drug could be modified by its manufacturers to bypass the new legislation.

Greg Knight congratulated the Government on taking swift action on the drug which has been linked to a number of deaths in Britain including that of 24-year-old Lois Waters, of Norton, and two teenagers in Scunthorpe.

Home Secretary Alan Johnson announced an immediate import ban on the substance – also known as meow meow, bubbles and M-Cat – and said a full ban on its sale would be enforced within weeks following the recommendation from the Advisory Council For The Misuse Of Drugs for the drug to be outlawed.

But Mr Knight is worried that drug manufacturers in the Far East – where the substance is produced – will simply modify the drug to get around the new laws. He has written to the Home Secretary to raise his concerns.

He said: “I welcome plans to make it a controlled substance, but there are ongoing concerns because it is thought that Chinese chemical factories that produce the drug will alter their chemical composition so it is no longer clear if it is illegal, even though the effects will be the same.

“I have written to Alan Johnson to ask if he will make sure that he will take the necessary precautions to make sure any derivative is also restricted, to stop any unscrupulous profiteers from oversees making, in effect, a very similar drug under a new name.”

Mr Johnson’s announcement that the drug will be outlawed came only hours after The Press handed in a 700-signature petition to Downing Street following ten weeks of campaigning for the drug to be banned.

We launched our Menace Of Mephedrone campaign after a 17-year-old pupil at Woldgate College, in Pocklington, collapsed after taking the drug.

Mephedrone will now be classified as a Class B drug, with dealers facing up to 14 years in prison and users facing five years behind bars.

The substance has been blamed for the death of a teenager who hanged himself after dabbling in the party drug.

Will Filer, 18, was found hanging from a tree in his home town of Chippenham, in Wiltshire, after taking the legal high.

His grieving mum, Rachel Higginson, said she had “no doubt” that Will would not have killed himself had he not taken the drug.