Mephadrone
The Psychonaut Research Project, an EU organisation that searches the internet for information regarding new drugs, first identified mephedrone in 2008. Their research suggests that the drug first became available in 2007. Mephedrone was first seized in France in May 2007 after police sent a tablet that they assumed to be ecstacy to be analysed. The drug was used in early products, such as Neodoves pills, by the legal high company Neorganics, but the range was discontinued in January 2008 after the government of Israel, where the company is based, made mephedrone illegal. It has been reported to be sold as a designer drug, but little is known about its pharmacology or toxicology as of yet. Mephedrone has recently been reported as having been sold as "ecstasy" in the Australian city of Cairns, along with ethylcathinone, and has also been reported in Europe and the United States. It is reportedly currently manufactured in China. The Daily Telegraph reported that manufacturers are making "huge amounts of money" from selling the drug. Druglink magazine reported that dealers in Britain spend Ѓ2,500 to ship one kilogram from China but can sell it on for Ѓ10 a gram making a profit of Ѓ7,500.

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Intended effects
According to the company Crew2000, intended effects include increased alertness, euphoria, excitement, feeling of stimulation, urge to talk, and openness.

According to the Darlington Drug and Alcohol Action Team, mephedrone can cause nose bleeds, nose burns, hallucinations, nausea, vomiting, blood circulation problems, rashes, anxiety, paranoia, fits and delusions. According to the company Crew2000, other problems may include poor concentration, poor short-term memory, tachycardia, palpitations, anxiety, depression, hyperhidrosis, mydriasis, trismus, and bruxism.
A survey conducted by the National Addiction Centre, UK found that 51% of mephedrone users said they suffered from headaches, 43% from heart palpitations, 27% from nausea and 15% from cold or blue fingers.

The BBC News reported that one person who used the drug for 18 months, in the end using it twice a week, had to be admitted to a psychiatric unit after he started experiencing hallucinations, agitation, excitability and mania. Almost nothing is known about the long term effects of the drug due to the short history of its use.

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Legal Status

Deaths/Injuries

On December 14, 2008, an 18-year-old Swedish woman died in Stockholm after taking, with friends, mephedrone in combination with cannabis on the night of Friday, 12 December. An ambulance was soon called to Bandhagen after the girl went into convulsions and turned blue in the face, Svenska Dagbladet reported. Doctors reported that she was suffering from hyponatremia and an autopsy revealed the woman's brain had swollen.
Mephedrone was scheduled to be classified as a "dangerous substance" in Sweden even before the girl's death at Karolinska University Hospital on Sunday, 14 December, but the death brought much more media attention to the drug. The handling of mephedrone became classified as a criminal offence in Sweden on 15 December 2008.

A man using mephadrone hallucinated for 18 hours and ended up removing his own balls because he believed centipedes were crawling over his body and biting him. The drug is sold legally on the internet as plant fertilizer. Its chemical formula is one molecule different to Ecstasy (Ecstasy reviews) and known as drone, bubble, meow meow or legal high. In Sweden an 18-year-old died from taking the drug and it has now been banned there, Israel, Norway and Finland. Police say the drug is highly addictive and can lead to severe nose bleeds, nose burns, hallucinations, circulation problems, rashes, anxiety and paranoia, fits, delusions and heart attacks.