Deaths spark 'legal high' warnings

Mar 17 2010

Police investigating the deaths of two teenagers believed to have taken the legal drug mephedrone issued further warnings after a man was arrested in a separate incident.

Humberside Police said a 27-year-old man was arrested at a nightclub in North East Lincolnshire on Tuesday after door staff searched him and found a quantity of what was thought to be mephedrone.

Officers with the force are also due to question three people in connection with the deaths of Louis Wainwright, 18, and Nick Smith, 19, who were found dead on Monday after a night out in Scunthorpe, North Lincs.

Police and partner organisations urged people to be careful of any substance marked as being for use with plants after warning that mephedrone - which is known under various names, including M-CAT and "miaow miaow" - is often sold on the internet as plant fertiliser.

Tony Smith, the father of 19-year-old Nicholas told Sky News: "We are now aware the Government are looking at making this drug illegal, but the fact is that young people have already died and had something been done before now our son would still be with us."

Nicholas' brother Matt said the legal status of the drug could have given him a "false sense of security". He said: "If he thought he was taking something illegal, that he shouldn't have been taking, he wouldn't take it."

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said "political meddling" by Home Secretary Alan Johnson had led to the delay in banning mephedrone.

An official review of the drug was put back because of fallout from the sacking of the Government's chief drugs adviser Professor David Nutt last year, he claimed.

Kim MacDermid, young people's substance misuse service project manager for North East Lincolnshire Care Trust Plus, said: "Mephedrone and methadrone are short lasting stimulants, so users tend to binge on them.

"They can cause heart and circulatory problems due to increased blood pressure. It has been known to cause convulsions in some users and regular use will cause depressive, irritable comedowns. However, being relatively new, many health risks are not yet apparent."