Lets just remember for a moment that the leading cause of death is a heart attack. In other words fatty foods and high stress levels are the biggest danger we face. Between fat laden foods, high stress jobs, death trap transport (cars), alcohol and cigarettes, we pretty much have fatality fully covered. But those things are far to “sacred” to our western lifestyle to question the huge numbers of deaths caused. And hey, we are used to dying that way!

So considering that huge amount of Mephedrone have been consumed in the last at least three to four years (since neo-dove days), and compared to much bigger killers like road death, fatality for me isn’t really a major concern. Many of those deaths are probably multi-drug or overdoses. Although that level of fatality is ironically a lot higher than the very safe drug MDMA, and also higher than BZP (Which they also banned in the UK). If they’d simply legalized MDMA, and similarly  cannabis, there wouldn’t be a legal high industry. Even BZP might have helped a fair bit there.

What surprises me about the hype and ignorance surrounding the drug, is that barely anyone is concerned about addiction - something highly euphoric Mephedrone delivers in spades. And of course the obvious, a drug this addictive, and now well known, will surely find a black market base after any ban. You might even find people selling it this way here, rather than in MDMA pills (No doubt given time).

We all know that bans are pointless, and here’s a UK article about just that and supporting allowing the sale of party drugs like MDMA in clubs. Rare sensible stuff. No law will stop people wanting to get high

But what’s even more interesting is the huge industry committed to developing new products. Before the UK ban on JWH’s, there were already new smokes ready for release (albeit a little weaker so far). And before the ban on Mephedrone, and Methylone and related chemicals, research chemical companies are pushing their new chemical, Naphyrone also nicknamed NRG-1 and RAVE (FYI its illegal here also).

This is a very cheap stimulant, with what some users describe as a coke-like feel. Of course its almost completely unknown as a quantity, especially in terms of side effects - so the ban has achieved nothing more than upping the unknowns. And the British media is scare mongering about this chemical now too, despite the fact that no one really knows much about it. The hype is particularly hyperbolic in its complete fabrication of facts. Check out this tripe

But even if they ban that, there’s always more chemicals and products. Plenty more fish in the sea in terms of new highs. And dollars tend to motivate people that way, to find them. Really, the people that came up with NRG-1 should have thought about more low key marketing strategies, like we saw initially with plant feeders in the UK, because as it is, that will likely be banned quick too. Especially given the hype level at present.

For me, all this is both horrifying (how uninformed can people and the media be?), and fascinating (What’s next in this strange game of Groundhog day? - they are pushing the development of new drugs faster and faster). Will they ever do the smart thing and legalize MDMA? My eyes are wide shut watching the insanity.