NCJ Number
235124
Date Published
2011
Length
195 pages
Annotation
This report from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction presents the findings of a risk assessment on mephedrone.
Abstract
This risk assessment contains the following findings: 4-methylmethcathinone (mephedrone) is a synthetic cathinone, legally produced and distributed mainly in Asia, and rarely marketed as a 'legal high'; the drugs specific effects are difficult to assess because it is used primarily in combination with other substances such as alcohol and other stimulants, but its physical effects appear to be similar to those produced by other stimulant drugs such as ecstasy; mephedrone has no established or acknowledged medical value or other legitimate purpose; 11 member states of the United Nations currently control the drug; and due to its stimulant properties, its ability to produce dependence in users, its potential attractiveness, the risk to health, the lack of medical benefits, and therefore the need to apply precaution, mephedrone should be controlled. As a result of these and additional findings, the European Commission and the Council of the European Union has adopted the following: the member states of the European Union shall take the necessary measures to submit the drug mephedrone to control measures and criminal penalties as provided under the legislation of the United Nations Convention on Psychotropic Substances. The report presents the detailed findings of the risk assessment on the drug mephedrone conducted by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction. Tables, figures, references, and appendixes