Police stress 'recreational' drug taken by pupil can kill

A RECREATIONAL drug marketed as plant food is potentially fatal, police have warned, a fortnight after an East Yorkshire schoolboy collapsed after taking it.

A 17-year-old sixth-former at Woldgate School in Pocklington spent a night in hospital after apparently taking mephadrone, a legal synthetic substance being sold over the internet.

The drug, which comes in powder form and is taken orally or snorted, can cause debilitating side effects.

Mephadrone and the similar methadrone – both of which are also known as m-cat – are described as fertilisers but are advertised as a “legal high”.

But police, teachers and health professionals are warning against their use due to their increased availability – the Pocklington schoolboy acquired his 15 minutes after texting a dealer in the town.

Kim MacDermid, young people’s substance misuse service project manager at North East Lincolnshire Care Trust Plus, said: “Mephadrone and methadrone are short-lasting stimulants, so users tend to binge on them.

“They can cause heart and circulatory problems due to increased blood pressure. It has been known to cause convulsions in some users and regular use will cause depressive, irritable comedowns.

“However being relatively new, many health risks are not yet apparent.”

Woldgate headteacher Jeff Bower said the drugs should be outlawed.

He said: “It costs peanuts and it’s legal and the danger of that is that they equate legal with safe.

“It doesn’t matter what you say to young people about the dangers, if something is legal they think it is safe.

“They see this as different to cannabis because of its legal status.”

The victim has now recovered and is back at school after serving a suspension, along with a friend who also took the drug.

Det Chief Insp Bob Clark added: “Just because a substance is legal doesn’t mean that it doesn’t present health risks to those looking to use it.

“This substance has featured heavily recently across the national media and it is important that residents across our region are aware of the potential risks associated with mephadrone, although at this stage we are not aware of it being widely used in our area.”