UK - Mephedrone ban 'has not worked'

Belfast Telegraph
Monday, 4 October 2010
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/mephedrone-ban-has-not-worked-14965686.html

'Banning the drug mephedrone may not have deterred users of the former 'legal high', according to new research released.
The research by Queen's University Belfast, part of a cross-border study on the use of the substance in Ireland, comes after mephedrone was outlawed earlier this year.

The drug hit the headlines because it was legally available yet had been blamed for a series of deaths.

The research was led by Dr Karen McElrath, who said: "This is one of the first studies into mephedrone use in Northern Ireland since it was made illegal earlier this year.

"The findings suggest that the ban did not have a significant impact on those who already used mephedrone, at least during the two-month period that followed the ban."

The interviews with 23 mephedrone users took place in May and June in the aftermath of the decision to ban the drug.

The participants were aged 19 to 51, about half of whom (12) were female.

The Queen's team said 19 of those who took part in the study were employed, and most occupations were affiliated with business, trades, the service industry or the public sector.

Mephedrone was made illegal in the UK in April, and in the Republic in May this year.

Dr McElrath said: "We are keen to develop this research further and to compare our results with a similar study conducted in Waterford prior to the ban on mephedrone in the Republic of Ireland in May 2010."'

Legalise bubble!!!!!!!!

this also just in - nor has the prohibition of any substance. period.

Looks like I'll be the first to say, no shit?

how many drugs are illegal and yet thousands and thousands all feed their want for them? this is no different only now people have to go to crummy side streets to meet the new dealers trying to make a buck on the latest ban.

I'd prefer to see it "withdrawn from sale" because there wouldn't be any demand for this stuff if less scary, but none-the-less effective, stuff was legal.

edgarshade said:

I'd prefer to see it "withdrawn from sale" because there wouldn't be any demand for this stuff if less scary, but none-the-less effective, stuff was legal.

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Eh, I'm not so sure. The people who I've seen who love Meph, really love Meph.

glenjih said:

Granted, but I always thought of it as a "child with a new toy" sort of thing. People suddenly realised they had access to a relatively potent drug legally and threw caution to the wind a little bit. After a while, I have faith most users would have come to their senses partly

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I agree, I'd say I was reasonably addicted when it was legal and for a time after the ban, but after a break of a couple months it's no problem to control.

The thing is though you guys know your shit. For every one of you theres hundreds and thousands of meph users who'll smash 5 grams over a weekend evey weekend and have done for months...

Personally not a fan of the stuff, i've had a few bombs and lines when out clubbing and it's not so great. The whole sweating like fuck + your sweat STINKING of it really turned me off the stuff.

You raise a good point newbierock but I am still of a mind if the Government had spent their time and money educating people on the value of HR and forced the head shops to supply more product information instead of banning the stuff then there would likely be less mephedrone related harms in the UK than there are in the current situation.

The mephedrone ban hasn't worked on a number of different levels.

It's been discussed time and time again since April but it hasn't worked because of everything from quality and price going up to tons of shitty RC's no one wants flooding the market.

Mephedrone was the one popular drug people could get at decent prices, decent purity and through decent methods.

No cut shit, no haggling/hanging around waiting for dealers, no rip off's and it really did bring people closer together. As soon as the ban was enforced this all changed for the worse.

Wish it was legal again

jblz said:

The mephedrone ban hasn't worked on a number of different levels.

It's been discussed time and time again since April but it hasn't worked because of everything from quality and price going up to tons of shitty RC's no one wants flooding the market.

Mephedrone was the one popular drug people could get at decent prices, decent purity and through decent methods.

No cut shit, no haggling/hanging around waiting for dealers, no rip off's and it really did bring people closer together. As soon as the ban was enforced this all changed for the worse.

Wish it was legal again

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if only.... we never knew how good it was at d time...