A legal designer drug also known as Miaow Miaow, which has been linked to some 27 deaths in the UK, is a step closer to being banned in Malta after the police Drug Squad recommended making it illegal.
The move comes as the UK's Home Secretary, Alan Johnson said on Monday the drug would be banned there in the coming weeks. It will be listed as Class B, alongside cannabis, making possession and dealing punishable by up to five and 14 years in prison respectively.
The Drug Squad's recommendation will now be passed on to Police Commissioner John Rizzo for his stamp of approval, after which the government will make a final decision based on the advice of the health authorities.
The snorting powder, officially known as mephedrone, has sparked a media frenzy in the UK culminating in a few high-profile deaths, such as that of 14-year-old Gabrielle Price, who last November suffered a cardiac arrest and died in hospital after taking a suspected cocktail of drugs including Miaow Miaow.
The drug, which is used in Malta, although it has not been officially linked to any drug deaths, can also be found in pill form.
People who tried the drug said its effects were feelings of euphoria and energy but they complained that the after-effects were most unpleasant, leaving a feeling of uneasiness.
A professor of chemistry at Queen's University, Belfast, John Mann, said last week using the drug could lead to impotence. He thought the drug should have been banned sooner.
Mephedrone is sold over the internet as plant fertiliser. The white crystal-like substance comes in bags containing warnings such as: "Not for human or animal consumption".
University professor and chairman of the National Commission of Drug Abuse, Richard Muscat said he supported the ban because it would, at least, make people think twice before importing the substance.
Prof. Muscat said drug manufacturers would continue to find loopholes in the law but as the law became tighter it would leave them with fewer options and the drugs would continue to become weaker.
His comments came amid UK reports that the Chinese manufacturers of mephedrone were already preparing new drugs to take its place once it became illegal. He said people who imported the substance would now be trafficking and risking prison sentences, creating a deterrent.
However, he stressed that the legal framework was only a part of the solution, which should include proper education and effective treatment and rehabilitation services. This view was sharply contrasted by Eric Carlin, a UK government adviser who quit the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs yesterday over the criminalisation of mephedrone. He said the council's decision taken earlier this week was "unduly based on media and political pressure".
The drug has already been banned in Israel, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland.
In the UK, a ban on importing it came into force this week after the Home Secretary was given a report backing its ban from Les Iversen, chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs.