Mephedrone,once a legal high, now a Class B drug, swept the nation in a cloud of shocking headlines and stories of accidental deaths and dangerous side effects. For a drug that is readily available and the reputation of being a "safe" student party drug, has the recent legal classification done anything to change the minds of those who dabble in and out of being users?

On April 17, Parliament announced that mephedrone, also known as meow meow, M-Cat and Bubble, was to be made illegal in the UK and was graded a class B drug. Mephedrone now carries the same weight as cannabis which was recently also given Class B status under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.  If a person is found in possession of the drug, they could face a maximum penalty of 5 years and an unlimited fine. 14 years behind bars could be the result for dealers charged with possession with intent to supply. Suddenly, easily accessible meow meow carried a huge risk.  

News of the first arrests filled the headlines. A 20-year-old man was arrested in Bewdley, Worcestershire the day after the law  was passed in the UK. A warrant to search his home resulted in the police finding substances thought to be mephedrone, ecstasy and cannabis at the address. In Scotland, two men were arrested in Aberdeen for possession of the drug some 3 hours and 39 minutes after mephedrone became illegal. It seemed the police across the country were prepared  to crack down on the drug, getting the former “legal high”off the streets. However, The Association of Chief Police Officers has urged forces to concentrate their efforts on drug dealers and those supplying mephedrone, they announced that they had "no intention" of criminalising young people in possession. Already, those casual users, were conveniently let off the hook.

One Kingston student told RiverOnline that she did not see a difference in the availability of the drug. “I can still get it really easily. Ya, the price went up a bit, but that’s just because it’s riskier.”

"Just because it’s illegal doesn’t mean I’ll stop taking it.” she added.

Although mephedrone has only recently appeared across the nation, its earliest recorded production was traced to Israel, where a company produced it under the name of Neodoves. It was available from that company until January 2008, when the Israeli government banned its production. Since then, the drug was available from some limited underground websites, most originating from China and south east Asia. Advertised as plant fertilisers or “plant food”, and the loop hole in the UK legal system which classed the drug as a “legal high”, added to the appeal of the drug. Specifically, among the younger generations.Before long, the drug was for sale on ebay and online suppliers arranged door-to-door deliveries of the drug.

Frank, the drug advice service, said that “Although the risks are now becoming increasingly clear, there is still concern that no one really knows what the exact dangers of mephedrone are.” They warned that more clinical trials and testing needed to be done in the future. RiverOnline learnt from a recent poll that 23% of the student surveyed had tried the drug. Some of the side effects experienced by takers of the drug included increased paranoia, boosts of energy, making you much more talkative and reduced inhibitions.

Along with these, reduced circulation, muscular fits, severe nose bleeds and increased heart rate have also been reported. Mephedrone does not come without its risks; at least 20 young people have become victims of the drug and lost their lives after experimenting with it. Nicholas Smith, 19, Louis Wainwright, 18,Lois Waters 24, and Carmen Marie Moulton, 17 all died from complications from taking the drug over the last month.

One first year student told RiverOnline that the risks were “one in a million” and that he would carry on taking the drug regardless. His friend, agreed and said that "the side effects that they talk about in the papers don't happen to me so I think I'll be fine." 

Only one 18-year-old girl RiverOnline spoke to said that after reading the headlines she “just doesn’t see the point in it, it can kill you, why risk it, just for a couple of hours of a high?”

The fight against mephedrone is still in its very early days, although there is progress being made towards getting the drug out of the party scene and off the streets with countless arrests being made across the country. The opinions of the drug, from those who have and do take it, on the most part remain unchanged. Behind the media hype and shocking headlines, the dangers and risks of mephedrone are evident, but more clinical trails and medical tests are need to persuade the public that mephedrone is not a drug to be disregarded and sidelined as "soft". Yet, knowledge of the dangers of heroine, cocaine and ecstasy have done nothing to limit the number of poeple who risk their lives taking them. They accept and continue to take their toxic vices, knowing it has the potential to kill them. It seems that mephedrone is just one more drug on the long list the Nation has a relentless battling against.