Sow What

London Fields # 76
First published Inpress, Melbourne on 24 March 2010
NB: Each column has a name, but these do not appear in print; printed versions may differ slightly to those displayed here

There‘s a new drug on London‘s streets. “It stimulates the part of the brain called Shatner’s Bassoon, and that’s the bit of the brain that deals with time perception”. Actually, that’s a description of Cake - the “made-up drug” that was the centrepiece of an episode of Chris Morris’s satirical series BrassEye in February 1997. But reading the news over the past few weeks, time and time again it’s been hard to distinguish the current near-hysteria of the tabloids with a television show from 13 years earlier, which actually led to questions being raised in parliament.

The substance attracting all the headlines is mephedrone (meow meow, M-Cat, bubble and lordknowswhat), reportedly now the UK’s fourth most popular street drug (and rising fast up the charts). Of course, it’s not really that new at all; the change is in the public awareness of it, stirred into a frenzy now that deaths have been linked to the drug. After the immigrants taking our jobs, the paedophiles lurking on every street corner, the dangerous dogs, the easier school exams, the ASBO generation of dangerous youth and binge-drinking Britain, methadone is the latest weapon to make you fear for Queen and Country.

The thing that kickstarted the UK tabloid panic over ecstasy was the death of schoolgirl Leah Betts in 1995, who collapsed into a coma four hours after taking an E, and later died. News reports blamed the drug, with some claiming it was a contaminated batch. Yet the inquest determined that the primary cause of death was water intoxication (drinking 7 litres in 90 minutes) with the drug a possible contributory factor. What’s triggered the current outrage is the death of two teenagers, also reportedly first time drug users. While you may have sympathy for those grieving relatives who have lost family members, what is not being so widely reported as that in addition to mephedrone, they were drinking and also took the (prescription only) heroin substitute methadone. Mixing sedatives and stimulants in such a way puts a tremendous strain on the body, and can lead to heart failure.

The big fuss seems to be about these being so-called ‘legal highs’. But the legality isn’t the key selling point; it’s the affordable price. The danger of such reporting seems to be some weird correlation between it not being illegal and it being safe. Now mephedrone is supposedly sold as a plant food, with a greater than 99% purity. But as it retails for between £8 and £15 a gram (although this figure may include ‘free’ delivery), I doubt you’d pay that for Blood & Bone or Thrive. Unless of course you found you could get high off it. There are many substances it’s possible to abuse - the difference is this one is being sold as one thing officially while everyone knows its actual intended use is something else entirely.

Now the delay on a government report on M-Cat is being linked to resignations following the sacking of drugs czar Professor David Nutt last October. He controversially used published studies as evidence for suggesting that while undoubtedly unsafe, ecstasy and LSD were less dangerous than alcohol. He was swiftly asked to resign as chair of Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs by the home secretary as a result. His thoughts here mirror those that lost him his job. "Who knows what's in [mephedrone] when you buy it? We don't have a testing system. It could be very dangerous, we just don't know. These chemicals have never been put into animals, let alone humans."

As yet, I’m not sure how many inroads this drug has made into Australia, but I have seen UK online sellers spam Oz message boards advertising their wares. And of course, this is where the its current ‘legal’ status becomes an issue. But there’s a part of me that thinks the biggest result of the current furore has been a huge advertising boost for a newer player on the block. These’s no doubting, particularly with an election looming, that M-Cat will be banned outright fairly quickly, even though experts are saying this could be the worst move possible. The simple truth is people need to take some responsibility for what they pump into their bodies, regardless of its legality. ‘It’s only one molecule different from MDMA’ screams The Sun . Yeah and H2O2 is only one molecule different from water, but I wouldn’t advocate drinking hydrogen peroxide either.


© James McGalliard 2010