BAN MEPHEDRONE, ADVISORY COUNCIL ON THE MISUSE OF DRUGS TO SAY

The advisory body on drug abuse is expected to recommend to the Home
Secretary today that mephedrone, which has been linked to the deaths
of several people, be made a Class B illegal drug.

The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs is meeting to discuss the
harm done by the drug, known as miaow-miaow or M-cat. Alan Johnson,
will accept the proposal and press for all-party agreement to enact
the necessary measures before Parliament is dissolved for the general election.

Any decision to recommend a ban could be derailed by the resignation
last night of Polly Taylor, the sixth member of the advisory council
to quit in recent months and its only veterinary expert. An order to
ban a drug can only be put before Parliament after consultation with
the full council, which would have to include a vet.

David Nutt, the council's former chairman, has told the Government
that in the run-up to a general election it is imperative to avoid a
"kneejerk reaction to press coverage of deaths that may or may not
have been caused by mephedrone", claiming that further scientific
evidence of the risks is needed. In a letter to Mr Johnson, he urges
him to defer any decision on a ban until July when the European
Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction produces an assessment.

Professor Nutt, who was sacked as chairman of the council last
autumn, says that a European-wide assessment of harm would be far
more substantial than anything that could be produced by the UK alone.

The letter adds: "The results of several investigations into alleged
deaths are still pending and at the very least, there should be time
to consider the outcome of relevant coroners' reports and police
investigations as and when they are made public."

Arguing that any controls placed on mephedrone require a proper
assessment of the harm caused by the drug, he writes: "at present we
have little more than anecdotes as a basis for policy".

The letter says that the main political parties should reach an
agreement that legislation on "legal highs" should be postponed until
after the general election. "This is a pivotal moment in UK drugs
policy; given the plethora of legal highs that could follow in
mephadrone's wake, the way in which the issue is handled could well
set the tone for many years to come."

Last week teachers' leaders called for the drug to be banned after
the deaths of two teenagers. Nick Smith, 19 and Louis Wainwright, 18,
from Scunthorpe, died after taking mephedrone with alcohol and
methadone, the heroin substitute.

Two other deaths have been linked to the drug. Joslyne Cockburn, 18,
was found dead at a house in Newcastle upon Tyne, apparently having
taken the drug. Lois Waters, 24, a bacon factory worker, was found
dead in a house in Norton, North Yorkshire after taking the drug.

However only one death in the UK is thought to be directly linked to
mephedrone. John Sterling Smith, 46, a Marks & Spencer worker from
Brighton suffered a heart attack last month after taking the drug.
Toxicology tests showed he died as a direct result of taking mephedrone.