The so-called legal high Ivory Wave should be illegal, the Government's drugs advisers said today.
The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) said it should be controlled as a class B drug. The move comes after the mother of a man who died after taking Ivory Wave said in May that the Government's failure to ban it was an "insult to her son's memory". Professor Les Iversen, ACMD chairman, said: "The health effects of desoxypipradrol (2-DPMP, sold as Ivory Wave) and its related compounds correspond with those related to other Class B drugs and have the potential to cause harm.
"That is why we are recommending that the Government takes action to control the substance under the Misuse of Drugs Act".
The National Poisons Information Service in Edinburgh highlighted a number of cases from last summer in which patients reported symptoms including hallucinations, paranoia and severe agitation following the use of 2-DPMP, the advisers said. In some cases the symptoms were still being felt between five and seven days after the initial use of the drug, they added.
