Editorial

Party drugs are the rage since alcohol does not seem to be cool enough to impress peers. In this sense the banning of meow meow underscores the authorities’ resolve to fight drugs.

Some drugs have been de-demonised and relegated to the second division of the drug pantheon, almost as if this will render them innocuous and socially acceptable. In a perhaps oversimplified nutshell, this trend began with cannabis, moved on to cocaine and now includes the cheap drugs meow meow and ecstasy.

Meow meow is officially known as mephedrone and is a synthetic amphetamine. It is locally available as powder (for sniffing or injecting) or tablets and its effects are similar to ecstasy (MDMA).

Mephedrone is a largely unknown drug and its neurotoxic (nerve damaging) effects are uncertain, although, from its similarity to other compounds that have been well studied, its effects have been inferred. Indeed, even deaths have been attributed to the use of this drug. Users report euphoria, stimulation, an enhanced appreciation of music, mood elevation, decreased hostility, improved mental function and mild sexual stimulation, all of which are similar to the effects experienced by users of cocaine, amphetamines and MDMA.

Side effects include hallucinations, nausea, vomiting, blood circulatory problems (such as hypertension, cold and blue fingers and toes due to reduced blood flow to the peripheries), rashes, anxiety, paranoia, agitation, fits, poor concentration, deterioration of short-term memory, palpitations with increased heart rate and abnormal heart beats, depression, increased sweating, dilated pupils, the inability to normally open the mouth, headaches and teeth grinding. Snorting the drug can also cause nose bleeds and nose burns. Drug dependence has also, not surprisingly, been reported. Impotence too has been cited as a likely potential, although, as yet, unproved, side effect.

The problems of the possible ill-effects of this drug are, as always, twofold. Not only have there not been long-term studies on the side effects of these drugs but the preparations illicitly available on the market are not quality controlled and quality assured like other medicines one buys. It is extremely disconcerting that anyone, even foolish youngsters, would be willing to purchase something, illegally, off the street, with no assurance as to the reliability, quality, purity and long-term effects and just sniff, swallow, smoke or ingest this unknown (and, indeed, unknowable) compound, like there’s no tomorrow. Such individuals should remember that mephedrone is sold over the internet as plant food “not for human consumption”.

Mephedrone was first developed in a lab in the late 1920s and experienced a resurgence in the early 2000s due to its cheapness. By 2008, law enforcement agencies were onto the drug and it began to be classed as an illegal drug in several countries. It took till 2010 for the drug to be made illegal in Malta by being placed on the Third Schedule of Chapter 31 of the Maltese law.

Young offenders experimenting with such drugs are often let off with a telling to by the courts, an approach that has often been questioned. Surely, the courts do realise it is the state and, hence, the taxpayer, that will have to fund hospital admissions for ill-effects encountered by abusers and also any long-term procedures for the attempted cure of dependence to this drug or to any other drug that the initial experience to this one may lead to.

There is very little point to step up the fight against drugs if offenders and more importantly, pushers, end up with just a slap on the wrist.