Yes, I'm A Capitalist Pig.

So, I keep getting emails from vendors of various substances offering increasing amounts of cash for advertising on this site. To be perfectly honest I could use a bit of extra cash since we’re saving up for a wedding. But, I’m not about to start advertising without asking your opinions first.

Here’s what I propose for the best outcome for us all. On individual pages, such as Mephedrone:
The Facts and JWH-018 Toxicology, for example, I was thinking of including a single link to a single vendor, clearly marked out as an advert. Then, I’d be happy for people to email me with any bad feedback on those vendors, and we could get rid of the link together and wait for a better vendor to come along.

That way, there’s no hidden spammy links or otherwise tricking people into visiting a vendor’s site. It would be completely transparent and you lot all all get some say.

So what do you think? Love it? Hate it? Got a suggestion to improve the idea for everyone? Plz leave a comment!!1

By the way, if you hate it, I’ll have to look at other options, like a “Donate” button next to every awesome joke. Like that side-splitter below the image above. Or, how about this one:

Or this one:

Ho ho ho!

Quick edit: Thinking about it, a donate button might be another great way to benefit a few more people other than myself (not that I need your money to spend hundreds of pounds on several pairs of shoes for our wedding…). How about a single donate button down the bottom of the right hand side, but then we’ll give say 20% of each donation to charity, or at least a worthwhile organisation. 10% could be given to one of your choice from a select few and 10% could be given to one of my chosing, again from those select few. Some that spring to mind include Erowid, Drugs Forum or the Richard Dawkins Foundation For Reason & Science (very much like the Derek Zoolander Center For Kids Who Can’t Read Good And Wanna Learn To Do Other Stuff Good Too).

Quick Edit #2: Perhaps we could earn a few donations… Like writing “[Your name] does drugz lolmayo!” in the sand of the Dominican Republic and taking a picture of us next to it. (Yes, we’re going there for our honeymoon…). We could even get those pix printed out on a mug or something for anyone particularly generous.

Other silly ideas welcome.

Nice one, guys. Seriously.

You’ve all just cost me a shitload of money. Once again, I’ve been forced to hand over more cash to upgrade my web hosting packages, due to the blog’s precipitous, yet perfectly predictable peak in popularity.

"Would you like to host a blog?"

I suppose you aren’t the only ones to blame. If my logical, well thought out, excellently articulated ideas and opinions require upgrading the infrastructure necessary to pipe them to the masses, I suppose I’m at fault too, if only a little bit. If I was wrong about something just a fraction of the time, or I was a tiny bit less modest, then maybe I could have kept the money for that death ray I’ve had my eye on.

Actually, running out of bandwidth timed rather nicely with my JWH-018 Toxicology write-up receiving over 100 mostly sensible comments. Neither is worth writing about on its own, but both things happening within a few days of each other practically forced me to write a bit of an update post.  So here’s a graph, some stats, and a few mediocre blog-related achievements:

Here’s the site’s traffic for every month since time began (I certainly can’t remember a time before Synchronium.net, and neither can you) to the end of January 2010. No actual numbers, but that’s some nice growth.

Sexy Statistics:

• We’ve written 87 posts between us
• Posts have rated 235 times with an average of score of 4.55
• There are 714 comments approved so far
• 9,178 spam comments have been dealt with
• Tim is our top commentator, closely followed by MauiGreenDragon
• Jo’s Hash Brownie Recipe has been viewed just over 100,000 times
• My first post has only had 27 views to date
• There are almost 10,000 links pointing to this site

Awesome Achievements

I’ve somehow convinced people that I know what I’m talking about

Thanks to my recent mephedrone coverage, I’ve given interviews and/or helped with research on the subject for BBC Radio, DrugScope and AOL, as well as a handful of smaller things like local or university newspapers or local radio stations. We also had the privilege of telling Jeremy Kyle to fuck off when he wanted to interview us for some (presumably terrible) legal highs “documentary”.

People keep nicking my shit

A lot of people have republished articles and images on their site without asking or linking back – the bastards. It seemed that every dickhead research chemical vendor who set up shop recently in an attempt to get rich quick has used my rather snazzy chemical structure images, and I’ve read more copied blog posts than I care to count. While definitely annoying, it’s also pretty cool to have created something worth nicking. One blog even had my entire RSS feed running down the right hand side for a while, but that was great, since each item linked back here multiple times. Which brings me onto…

People keep “licensing my content”

That’s basically the same as the above, but they ask me first and link back to the original article. (If you’re planning on nicking my shit, ask me first!)

We’ve stood up for the industry and druggies everywhere

Since Jo’s review on the second worst documentary ever made, Can I Get High Legally (the recent Horizon about infinity has to be the worst), we’ve published the views of a couple of interviewees, which tell a completely different story. Journalists occasionally mention that review when they get in touch, agreeing with us, or using that as an example of what they’re not trying to do. Are they trying to earn our trust? Maybe. I think the real reason is that my “Internet powers” scare the shit out of them. Well, maybe not.

We’ve had some interesting results in Google

First off, we immediately began to rank number one when searching for “synchronium”, above Synchronium.com, which has been there since 2004. Funnily enough, that guy probably gets more traffic now than ever, since no one ever actually searched for “synchronium” before this site came along.

Google Image Search is where all the fun is at though. At one point, our picture of Neal’s Yard Remedies superimposed with a giant rubber duck was on the first page of results for their name, but not any more. When you search for Daniel Siebert (“the salvia guy”), near the top is a picture of Kenny G, thanks to this post. Finally, Mephedrone Cat has shown his cheeky little face on the first page of results when searching for “mephedrone”.

If things continue like this, I reckon I’ll be king of the Internet in approximately 4 years.  Thanks to all of you for participating!

This past week, there has been a series of devastating firebomb attacks on a number of pubs in the centre of Birmingham. These attacks were carried out by a militant Islamic group seeking to put an end to the “evils of alcohol”, as it is forbidden by their religion. In the weeks leading up to the attacks, each of the pubs targeted was issued a warning by the group, threatening serious consequences for those that didn’t shut down immediately. Other pubs in Birmingham have received a similar warning.

The group has received sympathy and support from those addicted to the drug and the family and friends of those affected by alcohol.

Alcohol is a volatile and extremely flammable liquid that is used as an industrial solvent. Users commonly mix it with other liquids, or “soft drinks”, to mask the unpleasant taste and to prevent chemical burns to their mouth and throat. This mixture is referred to as a “hard drink”, drawing attention to the underlying violence and aggression associated with Britain’s depraved drink culture. Side effects such as dizziness, confusion, headaches and depression are reported by the majority of drinkers, especially following large doses.

The attacks have highlighted the addictive nature of alcohol and the danger it poses to society. Birmingham officials have responded by calling for the closure of all pubs in the city and trying to fast track legislation for a nationwide ban on alcohol.

Wut?!

Ahhhhhhhhh, just kidding! Kind of.

If you replace Birmingham with Ireland, militant Islamic group with paramilitary “vigilante” group known as the “Republican Action Against Drugs”, pub with headshop and alcohol with legal highs, then this is exactly the kind of bullshit story you might have read about these past few weeks.

Basically, a load of illegal drug dealers thinly veiled as a vigilante group are going round burning headshops down and in one case shooting someone who sold legal highs from his shop. These are acts of terrorism.

First off, the fact that these people are illegal drug dealers is speculation, but since half a million euros was found in the burnt out husk of just one of these headshops, it’s not hard to find a motive. They claim they’re against drugs in general, but no one who feels that drugs are so morally wrong would go out and shoot someone – a far more immoral crime. They’re either completely moral, completely immoral or completely nuts. The situation is chillingly similar to that Christian loon who shot that abortion doctor in the US.

"Hey! Guys! Get a hit of this crazy shit! Bring crisps."

That aside, the biggest issue is how these blatant acts of terrorism are being reported.  Just like my bullshit news story above (c’mon, you fell for it at least for a few seconds, right?), the reports on these headshop fires and shootings somehow manage to segue past the whole terrorism thing to focus on just how bad for us these shops are. Check out these quotes from the Irish Times:

On Friday, the Nirvana head shop and a number of neighbouring outlets on Capel Street were destroyed in a fire which began around the same time local residents reported hearing a loud bang coming from the outlet at 6am on Friday.

Gardaí are treating the Capel Street fire as arson although the exact cause of the blaze may never be known because most of the building has had to be demolished for safety reasons.

Although a link between the two fires has not yet been established there has been speculation that the incidents are related to a widespread campaign to outlaw such outlets.

Regulations which will outlaw a range of products sold as legal highs in head shops across the State are expected to be introduced later this year.

However, Mr Costello today called for legislation to be brought forward to outlaw such products within weeks.

“There has been real anger in the local community over the failure of the authorities to act in relation to head shops because a lot of young people around the area are customers buying products from them which mimic illegal drugs.

“It certainly seems too much of a coincidence that there has been two such fires within days, and there is a real concern that these shops are being targeted, and there is a worry that not enough action is being taken either to stop the selling of these products or to protect people living near head shops who could be hurt in a fire,” he added. (My emphasis)

What the hell, Mr Costello? Go and catch these terrorists! Not only does no one seem to care, but banning these products literally diverts more profit to people that support this kind of senseless violence.

Everyone knows that music sounds better on drugs, right? Right. Sure, some drugs make music sound better than others, and some music is better suited to particular drugs. I can’t imagine a heroin user sitting back, shooting up and slapping on the latest happy hardcore vinyl, for example, but in general, music and drugs are regarded as an excellent combination.

Here’s what everybody’s hero, Carl Sagan had to say about cannabis and music:

A very similar improvement in my appreciation of music [compared with art] has occurred with cannabis. For the first time I have been able to hear the separate parts of a three-part harmony and the richness of the counterpoint. I have since discovered that professional musicians can quite easily keep many separate parts going simultaneously in their heads, but this was the first time for me. Again, the learning experience when high has at least to some extent carried over when I’m down.

Since there’s such an obvious synergy between good music and good drugs, I thought I’d put together a littler series of posts reviewing some music that I reckon is essential to listen to while high. I’m not sure yet how it’s going to work – it might be single album recommendation, the odd collection of awesome tracks or focusing on one particular genre. I’m also not sure how frequent posts in this series will be. I’ll try to keep them pretty regular, but other more important stuff might crop up. I’ve created a new Music On Drugs category for these posts though, so they’ll all be in there.

This is the first post in that series, but today I’m not going to be suggesting any music – there’s a lot of preparation work to do before that!

Getting Your Shit Together

Before you can get the most out of your music, you’re going to need to spend a bit of money. Your auditorium (bedroom) needs to not only sound good, but also be comfortable and look great too. Luckily, you don’t need to spend a fortune to really improve the atmosphere.

Comfort

This is important – you can’t get stoned sitting on a bar stool, so get yourself some kind of massive bean bag or reclining chair if your bed isn’t suitable. You’ll want to be lying down so you can just focus on what you’re listening to.

Excellent Aesthetics

If the only lighting options in your room are having a harsh energy saving bulb either on or off, then consider getting some other lighting before we begin. You can spend hundreds on amazing lighting technology, or you can get yourself a red light bulb for a couple of quid. Here are a tonne of options roughly ordered by price:

Red Light Bulb Toadstool (Fly Agaric) Light Cube Colour Changing Mood Light Lava Lamp Plasma Ball Fibre Optic Lamp Salt Crystal Lamp Fake Red Flowers Philips LivingColors LED Mood Light

If you play music through your computer, you might want to get yourself some great visualisations for whatever media player your using. I’d recommend G-Force.

Awesome Audio

You can NOT listen to any of the music I’ll be reviewing through shitty little PC speakers or built-in laptop speakers. You might think that they’re fine because you can hear all the words to your favourite Afroman song, but you are wrong. Luckily, you can get some adequate speakers for under £50. So long as you’ve got a subwoofer (or sub; a giant speaker who’s job is to pump out the kind of bass that’s inaudible through laptop speakers), you’ll be OK. I’d recommend these Logitech X-230 speakers, which will plug straight into your PC or laptop.

Great, so you’ve got some speakers. Now you need to arrange them so they sound good. First pick out where you’ll be sitting to listen to your music, then arrange the left and right speakers symmetrically in front of you. Next, put your sub on top of a blanket or something. This will stop vibrations from the sub travelling through your walls or floor. Not only will this make the bass sound better, but it also won’t piss off the neighbours anywhere near as much, so you can turn it up even louder. Finally, make sure your speakers aren’t buried away at the back of your desk behind a load of crap. If sound waves have to navigate past old crisp packets, unpaid bills and ounces of weed, then the sound quality won’t be as good. If you’re going to spend the money on decent speakers, I’d also recommend actually buying (or at least illegally downloading) the music talked about. YouTube quality will not do it justice.

You’ve got at least a week to get yo’ shit together. In the mean time, here’s some more from Carl Sagan:

Since we watched and reviewed that BBC documentary Can I Get High Legally? a while back, you may remember Matt Bowden, one of the people interviewed, had some much more interesting points to make than those they actually showed in the documentary. Chris from Potseeds.co.uk said a similar thing – they spent about three hours talking about all sorts of interesting stuff, which was edited down to a couple of sentences on Salvia divinorum and a joke about Horny Goat Weed.

I’ve recently been in touch with “Sam” (not his real name), the user of research chemicals interviewed at the end of the program, and it’s no surprise that the same thing happened to him too. He commented on our review saying “What a fucking farse. I sat there an hour giving them a detailed interview about the state of affairs in the industry and they cut it down to fuck all and made me look like a fool.” Since every research chemical user I’ve spoken to (excluding those only interested in mephedrone) have all been at least reasonably intelligent, and at least two other pro-drugs interviews were heavily edited, it seemed highly likely that Sam was telling the truth.

Once again, its down to me to report the full story. Here’s Sam’s recollection of the events:

They asked me about my drug history.  I explained about using cannabis since I was 13 and research chemicals, which I informed them I started researching at the age of 16, before consuming 2C-B at age 18, using correct safety precautions. They then asked me to list the research chemicals I had taken, then cut them down to only the legal list (which they got wrong).

They asked who I experimented with. I told them generally if one of us found an interesting chemical we would explore it with the same group of 8 to 10 friends.

He asked what I gained from using these substance. I explained that these chemicals give me an insight on a perception of this world which only a few thousand people in the whole world will have experienced. It’s a little piece of insight. Or outsight!

All the drugs shown in the interview were their own which they had ordered. They ask me to explain how they were similar. After showing the substances to me they remarked about the purity of the mephedrone (75%). I explained this was probably a retailer issue as most major manufacturers produce quality chemicals. Our 2C-B HCL tested at 98.9%. I remarked about Dutch bacon being 90% water from certain manufacturers yet they didn’t complain…

Why did I not want to be seen? As this is a documentary on national TV and me being about to graduate, it may spoil my career if someone were to recognise me actively promoting these activities. Admission to illegal activity on national TV would guarantee me problems even if I chose to continue them.

I explained the age old idea of the government controlling these drugs properly and using the proceeds to better our world. The problem with drugs is propaganda and the use of them as a weapon or as a tool for control and domination (some places vary with this). Wanting to get high is natural and everyone does it in their own way. We have been put into a position where we are forced to pick from only a specific list of intoxicants based on what’s socially acceptable, dictated by upbringing, religion and corporate meddling.

These drugs should be made under quality controlled conditions, taxed and used sensibly. We as a whole need to open our eyes.

I think we now have overwhelming evidence that this documentary was far from balanced, and intentionally misleading. They just did such a bad job of it, it was painfully obvious from the beginning.

Mephedrone isn’t just another obscure research chemical. Everyone’s at it, all the time. Despite the media scare stories, over 20% of mephedrone users polled on Drugs Forum take more than 10g each month, with just under half of those consuming over 20g.  A lot of replies to that thread also reveal how quickly usage can escalate, meaning those results are probably on the conservative side. “More acceptable than weed”, some have been saying. “Even my non-druggie friends are doing it!”

Mephedrone has achieved this unusual status thanks to a number of factors. Firstly, it’s an effective stimulant, which is more than can be said for ecstasy and cocaine these days; the former consisting mainly of disagreeable piperazines (due to their cheapness, and until recently, their legal status) rather than MDMA, and the latter being incredibly inpure. Next up is the lack of a comedown that would normally be experienced with other stimulants, especially for new users. This means people can keep taking it for days on end with little to no perceived negative effects. The other major contributor is the price – at around £10 a gram, it undercuts a great many of its illegal counterparts, while often being more effective, or at least more reliable. Other factors include (potentially inaccurate) purity measures, the ease of buying it from the comfort of your own home  with a credit card, rather than handing over a fistful of crumpled notes to a typical drug dealer, and of course its legal status.  Although the majority of users understand that legal doesn’t mean safe, the fact that you can’t be imprisoned alongside murderers, rapists and other violent criminals for possessing it is certainly a plus. Oh, and it’s psychologically addictive – it won’t kill you if you stop taking it, but you might be able to think of nothing else.

Reports of children doing it, entire friendship groups crumbling as a result of compulsive use and the media frenzy have got people understandably worried and calling for this “evil” drug to be banned.

I Disagree.

Why We Shouldn’t Ban Mephedrone

If you haven’t read Top 10 Reasons Why Legal Highs Should Stay Legal, have a quick look now. Here are a few more mephedrone-specific points:

• Changing the law won’t change demand – we’ve already seen this with the reclassification of cannabis and the massive popularity of the synthetic cannabinoids that just got banned. Also, the decriminalisation of drugs in Portugal has resulted in not only a decline in drug use, but also a decline in drug-related illness and death (HIV from sharing needles, for example), as well as a increase in the number of people seeking treatment for addiction.
• The current classification system doesn’t work – Our current ABC system is a shambles, as any scientist, or indeed anyone that values evidence, will testify. Currently, one of the safest drugs, MDMA, sits alongside one of the (if not the) most dangerous, heroin. Cannabis, and soon the synthetic cannabinoids, which haven’t killed anyone, are positioned alongside amphetamine, a drug with far more potential dangers and addiction, meanwhile alcohol, which hospitalises over 1200 people a day and costs the NHS several billion pounds a year, remains legal along with tobacco. I would estimate the harms of mephedrone to be similar to amphetamine, if not a little worse, but placing it in class B would give the message that it is as dangerous as cannabis. Placing it in class A wouldn’t be right, as it certainly doesn’t appear to be as dangerous as heroin, but it’s probably worse than MDMA. Placing it in class C would be ridiculous, as it suggests cannabis is more dangerous. It would be impossible to have a sensible think on how to classify it properly without getting a headache.
• If mephedrone’s popularity persists, more people will die – in the event of an overdose or an idiosyncratic response, people taking illegal drugs are far more likely not to either tell the doctors what they’ve taken or even go to hospital in the first place. That’s not to say that mephedrone will kill a tonne of people, but if no one ever died whilst on mephedrone, that would be pretty weird…

What Should We Do Instead?

Just because I don’t think it should be illegal doesn’t mean I think the current situation is perfect. Instead, I think the best thing the government could do to reduce harm is keep it legal, restrict its sale to people over the age of 21 and slap on a tax of something like £15 per gram. This would make it much harder to buy large quantities at a time, especially for kids with little expendable income, and so curb mephedrone’s addictive nature. Obviously, this wouldn’t be the perfect solution, as some teenagers would still be able to get hold of it just like they do with alcohol, but at least less people will be taking it and a lot more money would be available to better fund the NHS, harm reduction methods, education about the drug and scientific research.

Why Mephedrone Won’t Be Classified Immediately

Heh. The government have certainly shot themselves in the foot here. Thanks to the sacking of Dave Nutt and the resignation of three others on the ACMD, the government now lacks the skills to ban it. Dr Les King, one of the resignees, was responsible for a large part of the ban last month, so without people like him, the government can’t do anything for a while. Looks like it’ll be legal for a good year or so yet.

How YOU Can Help

Well, you can’t really do anything about the mephedrone situation, but you can help me out by posting Mephedrone Cat everywhere!

You might save millions of lives by directing them to some of my harm reduction articles.

Mephedrone Cat knows when enough is enough, and so should you!

Last week’s ban on a few legal highs will certainly do more to harm the public than keeping them legal. Here are 10 ways in which every sensible legal highs user has just been shafted:

#1 – Don’t associate with dodgy people

Selling legal highs can be done by a legitimate business. Since these businesses aren’t breaking the law, engaging in any other kind of illegal behaviour (guns, violence, money laundering, etc) is a massive risk. People that deal illegal drugs are already breaking the law – if they get caught, they’re going to prison for a long time. Breaking the law a second time is no longer such a big deal, especially if the price is right. Not only do you get the safety of dealing with an organisation that doesn’t want to break the law, but you’re also not seen with any dodgy characters, whether that’s meeting up on a street corner, visiting their house or them turning up at your place at a suspicious frequency.

#2 – Comparison Shopping

We all live in hope that one day we could type in RateMyWeedDealer.com, find the best prices in town and arrange for a delivery. Fortunately, as customers of legitimate products, legal highs fans can shop around to their heart’s content. Selling something for more than you should be? Then no one will buy it! It’s as simple as that, so, not only can customers get a better deal by shopping around, this behaviour also encourages healthy competition between legal highs vendors. Another plus for the customer!

#3 – Buyer Protection

Perhaps RateMyWeedDealer.com is a long way off, but what about just ringing your dealer to complain about something? Inadequate packaging? Does the product weigh half as much as you were promised? Unfortunately, I doubt your dealer gives a shit. Luckily, for legal highs consumers, most sites out there have some form of customer service, and if they can’t resolve things, facilities for refunds or chargebacks exist to protect the customer.

#4 – A Strength For Everyone

The sheer number of similar products available mean there is usually a strength for every occasion. Want a bit of an energy boost for work? Caffeine! Want to go to a rave all night? Synthetics! Want to go to a rave but it’s not going to be a “big one” because you’ve got work in the morning, and, let’s face it, your joints and muscles aren’t what they used to be? Something herbal!

I think asking an illegal drug dealer for something cheaper and less effective would be a world first.

#5 – Diversity

Not only is there a range in price and strength, there’s also an incredible range of effects available. Clear headed stimulation, total euphoria, intense rushes, powerful relaxants, shit that makes you laugh – whatever you want, there’s probably something available somewhere that will do the trick. In the world of illegal drugs, that kind of product diversity could only be maintained via a database of epic proportions containing your millions of “hookups” and your own data entry guy.

#6 – Passing A Drug Test

Some people might thing it’s unfair that their co-workers can party all night on a litre of vodka, sleep for a few hours in a bathtub alongside their own sick and eventually drive to work still pissed, while they get fired for smoking a bit of weed after work. Sure, people should get fired if they let their abuse of any substance interfere with their work, but some people may feel that what they get up to in their own time is their own business. These people may feel drug tests are massive breach of their privacy, so it’s a good job that they have a legal alternative to turn to, since they shouldn’t show up on drug tests.

#7 – Friends More Likely To Do The Right Thing

People that overdose on illegal drugs will sometimes go without the treatment they need to avoid any legal trouble for themselves or their friends. Perhaps a friend might not tell the doctor what someone else has taken for fear of getting their mate into trouble. With legal highs, there’s no risk of prosecution so a) people can fully disclose what they’ve taken and could even present the doc with the original packaging and b) the quantity of chemicals in pills or powders will be consistent between batches…

#8 – Batch Consistency

Not only can doctors share notes on specific products, but users can too. It’s no good trying to compare ecstasy pills from different ends of the country, since the contents are likely to vary wildly, even if they share the same stamp. With legal highs, that’s a different story. Consistency between brands and batches facilitates a great deal of discussion not only on how good they are, but also harm reduction. Occasionally manufacturers do change their ingredients, but it only takes a short while for the changes to reach the entire country.

#9 – The Government Could Learn A Thing Or Two

Straight away, the fact that the legal highs industry even exists tells us that people want to get high and that people think the current drug laws are stupid. There’s one massive lesson that could be learned from it though – why not use it as a model for eventually legalising cannabis and the rest? Instead of trying to ban every new substance before anyone has died, why not look at regulating their sales with similar legislation to alcohol and tobacco? If we as a country could get this right with legal highs, we could see if it works or not and them maybe think of abolishing our current bullshit excuse for a drugs law.

#10 – Taxes

Here’s a list of taxes that illegal drug dealers don’t pay:

• Personal Income Tax
• National Insurance
• Corporation Tax
• VAT

If legal highs remained legal and were taxed like alcohol and tobacco, the government would even more money on top of the taxes above that they already receive. These products are relatively harmless compared with alcohol, for example, which hospitalises 1200 people a day and costs the NHS at least £2 billion to deal with, so a tax on them wouldn’t be paying for the damage they’d cause to society – they’d be making the government a massive profit to spend on more doctors, nurses, medical research and fucking moats!

Nice one, G’ Brown!

Apart from the exponentially expanding list of slang names for mephedrone, there have been a couple of interesting new developments everyone should be aware of.

#1 – Gabrielle Price Died From Bronchopneumonia

Gabi has featured in pretty much every mephedrone-related news story these past few weeks, since she died at a party after consuming mephedrone and ketamine (and probably alcohol as well, although alcohol is so ingrained into our society it wouldn’t occur to anyone to report it). It turns out that Gabi actually died from bronchopneumonia following a group A streptococcal infection. Don’t get me wrong, this is nothing to be cheery about – a teenager still died. I’m just reporting this here because nowhere else will report it, since it’s no longer a story. Actually, if you read about another mephedrone article that mentions this girl, do everyone a favour and leave a link to this blog post in their comments.

This also doesn’t mean mephedrone is safer than we thought. Being on any drug isn’t a good idea if you also have a potentially fatal illness, never mind a cocktail of drugs in a party environment.

#2 – No One Ripped Their Balls Off

This is another piece of bullshit whipped out by the media at every opportunity: apparently, some young gentleman thought he saw centipedes crawling about his person and tore his balls off in (a totally proportionate) response. Turns out, this probably didn’t happen, since the “facts” were obtained from unsubstantiated reports on poor quality forums and chat rooms. Well done, the media!

#3 – West Yorkshire Police Have No Idea What The Fuck They’re Talking About

Here’s what they had to say following a poster launch designed to raise awareness.

“MCAT is a substance which is currently legal, however; it is predominately used for plants and can have quite an adverse effect if consumed by a human.

“We know that this substance is often used by young people, particularly between the ages of 14 to 25. These posters are therefore designed to reach this particular generation and help them to make an informed decision.

“Police and partners in Kirklees will be placing them in various locations frequented by young people and hopefully they will take in the message.

“MCAT is often referred to as a ‘legal high’ and gives the impression that because it’s legal, it is safe. There are number of substances, which are not controlled drugs or illegal which can be abused. We would always advise against ingesting anything into your body which is not for a bone fide medical reason. MCAT in particular has the potential to damage both mental and physical health.

Their first mistake might be hard to spot, but MCAT means “methcathinone” which is NOT mephedrone (4-MMCAT). Their second mistake needs no more explaination or emphasis than a simple emboldening of their own words.

Unbelievable.