Teachers call for 'm-cat' drug ban
Confirmed as cause of teenagers' deaths
London : Pressure was growing yesterday for a ban on mephedrone, a legal drug linked to the death of two teenagers earlier this week.
Police said they believed the drug, also known as "meow meow" or m-cat, contributed to the deaths of Louis Wainwright, 18, and Nicholas Smith, 19. They died on Monday after a night out in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire.
Head teachers said the risks of taking the drug are similar to those of heroine or cocaine. The government has asked the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs to carry out an assessment of mephedrone.
The drug, which comes in the form of a powder, tablets, crystals or liquid, is often sold cheaply via the internet, where it can be marketed as plant food, another name for the substance.
Side-effects can include headaches, palpitations, nausea, high blood pressure, a burning throat, nose bleeds and purple joints, weight loss and insomnia. It already banned in some European countries.
The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) general secretary, Mick Brookes, told the BBC: "This drug clearly has the same inherent dangers as any class A drug and I think serious consideration should be given to banning it." He added: "The problem with that is that you then criminalise the people who take it, so we need to think very carefully about what we do, but act with some speed." Nicholas Smith's father Tony, a retired firefighter, urged people to avoid the drug.
He told The Sun: "I don't want any other family to go through this or any other kids to die because of this."
On Tuesday Humberside police arrested two men and a boy of 17 in connection with the deaths of Wainwright and Smith.
One of the arrested men was taken to hospital after being thought to have taken the drug. He was released into custody with no symptoms, police said. Police found empty mephedrone packets and packages marked "herbal highs" when they searched a property.
Detective chief inspector Mark Oliver, senior investigating officer, urged anyone who had taken the drug to go to hospital "as a matter of urgency."
— Guardian News & Media Ltd
