Mephedrone Addiction

Mephedrone is often described as a mix between amphetamines, ecstasy, and cocaine. The effects of mephedrone last for about an hour, but the following can vary.

• It can make you feel alert, confident, talkative and euphoric- and some people will temporarily feel strong affection to those around them.
• Mephedrone can make users feel sick, paranoid and anxious, and it can cause vomiting and headaches.
• It risks overstimulating and damaging your heart and your circulation.
• It also risks overstimulating your nervous system, which may cause hallucinations, feeling of agitation and even fits.
• It can reduce your appetite, so you don’t feel hungry.

Other effects that people have reported include heart palpitations, insomnia, loss of short-term memory, vertigo (a form of dizziness), grinding of teeth, sweating and uncomfortable changes in body temperature.

Taking mephedrone does involve risks- and the dangers and long-term effects are becoming clearer as more reports emerge. Here’s what we know:

• Users have reported blue or cold fingers- this is probably because mephedrone affects the heart and the circulation.
• Some users have died - six deaths involving mephedrone reported in 2011 in England and Wales.
• Some users have also had severe nosebleeds after snorting mephedrone.
• Overheating has been a significant cause of deaths when other amphetamine-type drugs, such as ecstasy, have been used along with mephedrone.
• Injecting mephedrone is particularly dangerous. It’s much easier to overdose when injecting.
• Research suggests that on average mephedrone is 50% pure, so it’s not just the mephedrone that goes into your bloodstream.
• Injecting can also cause damage to veins and arteries, and may cause ulcers and even gangrene (that’s when bits of the body start to die).
• Viral hepatitis and HIV/AIDS infections can be spread by users sharing needles, syringes or other injecting equipment.

You increase the risks to yourself if you combine alcohol with mephedrone or any other drug that causes a ‘high’ – including increasing the risk of death.

• Mephedrone is a class B drug-so it’s illegal to have for yourself, give away or sell.
• Possession is illegal and can get you up to five years in jail and/or an unlimited fine.
• Supplying someone else, even your friend, can get you fourteen years in jail and/or an unlimited fine.

If the police catch you with mephedrone, they’ll always take some action. This could include a formal caution, arrest and prosecution.

A conviction for a drug-related offence could have a serious impact. It can stop you from visiting certain countries- for example, the United States- and limit the types of jobs you can apply for.

Like, drink driving, driving when high is illegal and you can still be unfit to drive the day after using mephedrone. You can get a heavy fine, be disqualified from driving or even go to prison as a result of this.