Yes, I have. That's why I know how it felt for me. It didn't feel like MDMA, it didn't feel like cocaine, finally it didn't feel like a combo of MDMA and cocaine. I would keep my mouth shut about its effects and just stick to "it took its toll" talk if I hadn't taken it. From all 4-substituted cathinones I took mephedrone and flephedrone. Look how I don't comment on 4-ethyl-N-methylcathinone or N-ethyl-4-methylcathinone beside reminding the fact all these drugs have never been studied in human.
I believe in science so without any proof I can't say "I know" but having experienced some subjective effects and having read reports on it, I can say "I think it's true that...".
Why was mephedrone a success? Well, firstly it was legal, secondly (it also augments "firstly") it acted similarly to other cathinones (with a small difference). When amphetamine blocks DAT, NAT, and SERT by phosphorylation, it does at some ratios, when amphetamine acts as a releaser of DA, NA, and 5-HT, it does it at some ratios. Now, amphetamine acts in such a way that serotonin effects play a very small role in general experience. Mephedrone has different ratios for both transporters blocking and releasing capabilities. And to cut this neuroscience "lecture" short, mephedrone relies on serotonin much more than amphetamine or amphetamine. That's why some people who never took MDMA or cocaine (or took some dirty pills with no MDMA but some piperazines and snorted some 10% cocaine), compare it to MDMA, cocaine or both. But this is bullshit neuropharmacologically.
I accept the fact mephedrone is addictive to some people just like I accept amphetamine is addictive to some people (for me it isn't, I'm simply not into stims). By "I accept" I mean I understand. But I never accepted the fact that 16-year old kids could go and buy it just like that exactly because I understand it's no better than (meth)amphetamine in terms of addiction. A drug no different in this aspect to amph was legally sold, that's unacceptable. But just as banning other psychoactive substances that are good brainwashers, banning mephedrone made it go underground. It limited kids' access to this drug so they started buying those "boosters/afterburners" (different translations from Polish I've seen) containing BZP, TFMPP and some other piperazines. Those vendors couldn't use mephedrone in "boosters" anymore so they had to make up for possible losses so they started putting more piperazines into those "boosters" and anyone could buy them at "funshops" that sometimes were on the main street of the city. "Boosters" god banned eventually as well but they also went underground, they're worse than plain amphetamine and those little colorful packs cost much more than plain amphetamine and people buy it - I don't understand it but it's not a must for me, I don't have to understand it.
Now why am I writing about all of this? Seems like it doesn't have any connection with other cathinone analogs, right? Well, it does. If drugs like 4-EMC or 4-MEC start to be available like mephedrone (and I don't care if they're "nowhere near mephedrone", for me mephedrone was nowhere near anything - who cares?), these mephedrone substitutes are going to take their toll as well. From all available stimulants on this planet people choose to buy such shit at ridiculous prices. This world has gone really crazy.
![:\](https://bluelight.org/xf/BL_Images/Orig_Emoji/wrygrin.gif "wry grin :\")
