I live in Sweden where mephedrone, nicknamed
krabba,
räka (eng. crab, shrimp. Because of the fishy smell), has been around a couple of years and it more or less got it's real first boom here regarding wide-spread use. Sweden also had the first mephedrone-related death back in 2008 (some disputes this, and point to a death in Denmark during the summer of 2008. However, the toxicology reports were inconclusive and there has also been some reports that the death was a result of mixing mephedrone and methamphetamine). It's been banned since around 2008/2009, after a media frenzy where it was compared to crack cocaine. But since it had such wide spread use before the banning it's still around and somewhat popular especially among younger drug users (who more or less was introduced to drugs by mephedrone). The younger users still don't really regard mephedrone as an illegal drug per se. In contrast we haven't seen a single good wide-spread ecstasy pill in Sweden since like 2006-2007.
Regarding punishment and mephedrone: it's really harsh, more harsh than for example amphetamine and cocaine. 10 grams or more is regarded as a serious offense with a minimum sentence of two years in prison (max being 10 years). That's right, 10 grams will give you a minimum of two years in prison. Everything below 0,15 grams is regarded as a minor offense, where a prison sentence of six months is the maximum punishment. Keep in mind that just having the drug in your system is regarded as a minor offense in Sweden, usually with a fine as a result. Everything between 0.15 and 10 grams it thus regarded as a normal offense, where the maximum prison sentence is three years. Despite these harsh sentences it's still quite popular as I mentioned before, and the only real consequence this has had is that a lot of really young people has gotten really long prison sentences - like 18 year old kids get put away for like four year and such.
After the banning of mephedrone the Swedish RC scene and shops started to look for an alternative. Methedrone (bk-PMMA) was seen for a while as the natural successor. However it was no way near as euphoric as mephedrone and gave sort of a confused rush. Thus it never really got the same popularity and wide-spread use, and was soon also banned but also quickly forgotten. I tried it when it was legal and didn't like it at all. It was nothing compared to mephedrone.
Since then methylone (bk-MDMA) has had a smaller boom on the scene, but since it's quasi-illegal and banned it hasn't had the same success as mephedrone. Swedish drug users are still looking for the next mephedrone, and the shops have tried to introduce substances such as MDPV, butylone (bk-MDMB), flephedrone (4-FMC) and dimethocaine. But none really has had the same boom and success as mephedrone had, and nowadays both MDPV and butylone is banned. Most of the mentioned substances are garbage compared to mephedrone if you ask me, and the only legal substance I fell is in the same league as mephedrone is 4-fluoromethamphetamine (4-FMA) but it's quite hard to get a hold of and the rush is quite different. I still feel that 4-FMA has some great potential and it's quite popular among RC users in Sweden, but since it's so hard to get a hold of it's use is somewhat limited and not that wide-spread. The scene is as I mentioned before still looking for a good legal alternative to mephedrone, and in that sense we are standing where UK is standing at the moment.
Sorry for the history lesson, just thought there might be some interest regarding the Swedish mephedrone story
I hope it is as good as the hype.
