Buttchugging, move aside: The newest HORRIBLE DANGER to THE CHILDREN!

[Junkenstein]

Just to highlight the fruitlessness of the cause:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23048267

The UK has the largest market for so-called "legal highs" in the European Union, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

A total of 670,000 Britons aged 15-24 have experimented with the substances at least once, it says in its 2013 World Drug Report.

It says there has been an alarming increase worldwide in new psychoactive substances, known as NPS.

Mephedrone use, though, has declined in England and Wales since it was banned.

Mephedrone, also known as meow meow or M-CAT, is the most widely used of the new psychoactive substances in the UK. It was banned in 2010.

Drawing on European Commission data from 2011 and United Nations population statistics, the World Drug Report says the UK is Europe's largest market "for legal substances that imitate the effects of illicit drugs".

It added that while the use of traditional drugs such as heroin or cocaine is globally stable, new psychoactive substances "are proliferating at an unprecedented rate".

And new substances are being identified all the time.

At the end of 2009, 166 NPS had been identified worldwide. By mid-2012 that had risen to 251.

"For the first time, the number of NPS exceeded the total number of substances under international control (234), " the report said.

BAN ALL THE THINGS.

In 2010-2011, mephedrone was the second most widely misused substance in England and Wales, on a par with cocaine powder, according to the report.

But following an import ban and classification as a Class B substance, mephedrone use has declined, after years of increase.

"We have seen a decrease in use (in the UK) since the legislation got put in place," Mr Tettey said.

The UK has a moral panic on some substance regularly. Usually after a kid "was nearly hospitalised". It's easier to lose your shit about the new possibly dangerous to kids thing. That does not mean it makes sense. David Nutt pointed out more people die from Horse riding than Ecstasy and his views were taken with the consideration they warrant in the UK - None.

[AFK]

Well, they do quote one doctor:

"The normal sensation when you drink and you are getting more drunk is to vomit: It's your body's way of expelling alcohol," explained Dr. Robert Glatter of Lenox Hill Hospital. " However, when you inhale alcohol, your brain has no way of expelling it."

And that's true information.  But at what point is he saying that people are actually doing this, that kids are actually doing it, or that he's dealt with any cases of this at all?

It's also WRONG

WRONG WRONG WRONG.

You can't inhale vaporized alcohol fast enough to get to the puking point, and it gets into the brain the same way it gets out, through the blood.

NO, IT'S TRUE, YOUR BRAIN CAN'T VOMIT, THOUGH IT PROBABLY WANTS TO AFTER READING SOMETHING THIS MORONIC.

I'm quoting this because RWHN seems to have neglected it in favor of not zero.

Nigel's a brain thingy. I'm going to trust her physiological perspective on it.

A college student?  Set the bar high.

[Reginald Ret]

If you vaporize alcohol instead of drinking it you get drunk faster with less alcohol. THIS IS A GOOD THING. Especially for your liver.
You also get over the buzz faster and you get no hangover.

[AFK]

Except since it is bypassing your stomach and liver you are getting it in a much more concentrated form which means alcohol poisoning can also happen a lot quicker. 

[AFK]

In 2010-2011, mephedrone was the second most widely misused substance in England and Wales, on a par with cocaine powder, according to the report.

But following an import ban and classification as a Class B substance, mephedrone use has declined, after years of increase.

"We have seen a decrease in use (in the UK) since the legislation got put in place," Mr Tettey said.

Oh, look, the ban lead to decreased use.  Awesome!

[Cain]

Yet another tragic case of RWHN not doing his research:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/shortcuts/2012/dec/02/mephedrone-heroin-cheap-rival

Research carried out among police forces, drug agencies and frontline drug workers across the UK, published this month by the charity DrugScope, shows that while use of substances such as cannabis, heroin, speed and cocaine is decreasing, mephedrone use is on the rise.

"It has become really prolific in the past 12 months; we have young people from 13 years old taking it," says Lucy Hulin, a substance misuse worker in Gloucester. "People we see are using the drug all day, mainly because they are bored." Hulin says the young people's drug service in Gloucester has seen more than 50 new cases of problematic mephedrone use in the past nine months.

In Barry, south Wales, drug workers have witnessed an epidemic of mephedrone injecting among the town's 200 or so users of intravenous heroin and amphetamine. "It happened very quickly and we didn't see it coming," says Mike Brown, a case manager at drug charity Inroads. "Virtually all our heroin and speed injectors suddenly began injecting mephedrone instead. It's a close community, so habits spread quickly. They call it 'M-smack'."

It is easy to see how the drug might flourish. Less reliant on a traditional distribution system than crack, cocaine, ecstasy and crystal meth, mephedrone is more accessible to those living outside major city centres. And it has none of the "junkie" stigma associated with heroin and crack.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/mar/11/mephedrone-more-popular-after-ban

Moves to criminalise the new wave of synthetic drugs, known as legal highs, appear to have backfired after it emerged that mephedrone is now more popular among clubbers than when it was not banned.

Confirmation comes in a survey of London club-goers carried out by researchers at Lancaster University and Guy's and St Thomas' NHS foundation trust. Published on Monday in the Journal of Substance Use, it assesses the impact of the classification of mephedrone as a class B drug.

The survey builds on earlier work, conducted one evening in July 2010, three months after the drug was made illegal, which found the popularity of mephedrone had surpassed that of all other drugs, with 27% of people questioned in two gay-friendly south London dance clubs reporting that they had or were going to take it that night.

The results of the follow-up study, conducted at the same two clubs in July 2011, found mephedrone had become even more popular. On the night the study was conducted, 41% of club-goers said they had taken or intended to take mephedrone that night.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/apr/28/mephadrone-clubbing-ecstasy-polydrug

Clubbers are regularly taking the former legal high mephedrone alongside ecstasy and cocaine, a trend that experts warn could have grave health implications.

Mephedrone prices have more than doubled from around £10 a gram to between £20 and £25 since the drug was banned in April 2010. However, a new survey of more than 300 clubbers, conducted in south-east London shortly after the ban was introduced and published in the academic journal European Addiction Research, shows they are regularly adding mephedrone to their drug mix, in spite of the higher prices.

The research found that polydrug use was now the norm among clubbers, who are happy to mix legal, newly banned and established illegal club drugs. It indicates that criminalising drugs has little effect on consumption other than to provide new revenue streams for dealers selling established illicit substances. Experts say the findings are important because what happens on the club scene is often copied by wider society later on.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/sep/15/mephedrone-usage-children-drug-workers

Concerns over the dramatic rise in the use of mephedrone are intensifying as drug workers report seeing more children abusing the drug.

In the last few days police in south Wales, where figures issued last month show offences linked to mephedrone use had increased by more than 400% in 12 months, have issued warnings to parents and schools after a 15-year-old boy was taken to hospital following use of the illegal drug.

Growing anecdotal evidence coming from those working to help people with addictions suggests that the stimulant, which is cheap and easily obtained, is being used by younger people as it becomes increasingly prevalent on Britain's streets.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Well, they do quote one doctor:

"The normal sensation when you drink and you are getting more drunk is to vomit: It's your body's way of expelling alcohol," explained Dr. Robert Glatter of Lenox Hill Hospital. " However, when you inhale alcohol, your brain has no way of expelling it."

And that's true information.  But at what point is he saying that people are actually doing this, that kids are actually doing it, or that he's dealt with any cases of this at all?

It's also WRONG

WRONG WRONG WRONG.

You can't inhale vaporized alcohol fast enough to get to the puking point, and it gets into the brain the same way it gets out, through the blood.

NO, IT'S TRUE, YOUR BRAIN CAN'T VOMIT, THOUGH IT PROBABLY WANTS TO AFTER READING SOMETHING THIS MORONIC.

I'm quoting this because RWHN seems to have neglected it in favor of not zero.

Nigel's a brain thingy. I'm going to trust her physiological perspective on it.

A college student?  Set the bar high.

Yes, with a specialization in brain stuff.

What's your degree in again?

[AFK]

One in science stuff, with a minor in economic thinigies, to go along with a Masters in public policy something or others, and a PhD in awesomesauce.

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

Wasn't there a scare a few years back concerning kids hyperventilating for fun?

BAN BREATHING.

[AFK]

Yet another tragic case of RWHN not doing his research:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/shortcuts/2012/dec/02/mephedrone-heroin-cheap-rival

Research carried out among police forces, drug agencies and frontline drug workers across the UK, published this month by the charity DrugScope, shows that while use of substances such as cannabis, heroin, speed and cocaine is decreasing, mephedrone use is on the rise.

"It has become really prolific in the past 12 months; we have young people from 13 years old taking it," says Lucy Hulin, a substance misuse worker in Gloucester. "People we see are using the drug all day, mainly because they are bored." Hulin says the young people's drug service in Gloucester has seen more than 50 new cases of problematic mephedrone use in the past nine months.

In Barry, south Wales, drug workers have witnessed an epidemic of mephedrone injecting among the town's 200 or so users of intravenous heroin and amphetamine. "It happened very quickly and we didn't see it coming," says Mike Brown, a case manager at drug charity Inroads. "Virtually all our heroin and speed injectors suddenly began injecting mephedrone instead. It's a close community, so habits spread quickly. They call it 'M-smack'."

It is easy to see how the drug might flourish. Less reliant on a traditional distribution system than crack, cocaine, ecstasy and crystal meth, mephedrone is more accessible to those living outside major city centres. And it has none of the "junkie" stigma associated with heroin and crack.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/mar/11/mephedrone-more-popular-after-ban

Moves to criminalise the new wave of synthetic drugs, known as legal highs, appear to have backfired after it emerged that mephedrone is now more popular among clubbers than when it was not banned.

Confirmation comes in a survey of London club-goers carried out by researchers at Lancaster University and Guy's and St Thomas' NHS foundation trust. Published on Monday in the Journal of Substance Use, it assesses the impact of the classification of mephedrone as a class B drug.

The survey builds on earlier work, conducted one evening in July 2010, three months after the drug was made illegal, which found the popularity of mephedrone had surpassed that of all other drugs, with 27% of people questioned in two gay-friendly south London dance clubs reporting that they had or were going to take it that night.

The results of the follow-up study, conducted at the same two clubs in July 2011, found mephedrone had become even more popular. On the night the study was conducted, 41% of club-goers said they had taken or intended to take mephedrone that night.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/apr/28/mephadrone-clubbing-ecstasy-polydrug

Clubbers are regularly taking the former legal high mephedrone alongside ecstasy and cocaine, a trend that experts warn could have grave health implications.

Mephedrone prices have more than doubled from around £10 a gram to between £20 and £25 since the drug was banned in April 2010. However, a new survey of more than 300 clubbers, conducted in south-east London shortly after the ban was introduced and published in the academic journal European Addiction Research, shows they are regularly adding mephedrone to their drug mix, in spite of the higher prices.

The research found that polydrug use was now the norm among clubbers, who are happy to mix legal, newly banned and established illegal club drugs. It indicates that criminalising drugs has little effect on consumption other than to provide new revenue streams for dealers selling established illicit substances. Experts say the findings are important because what happens on the club scene is often copied by wider society later on.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/sep/15/mephedrone-usage-children-drug-workers

Concerns over the dramatic rise in the use of mephedrone are intensifying as drug workers report seeing more children abusing the drug.

In the last few days police in south Wales, where figures issued last month show offences linked to mephedrone use had increased by more than 400% in 12 months, have issued warnings to parents and schools after a 15-year-old boy was taken to hospital following use of the illegal drug.

Growing anecdotal evidence coming from those working to help people with addictions suggests that the stimulant, which is cheap and easily obtained, is being used by younger people as it becomes increasingly prevalent on Britain's streets.

Eh, I was just going with what Junk posted.  Sounds like your data wonks over on that side of the pond can't get their acts together.

[Junkenstein]

Nice to focus on the second quote while ignoring the first. Prohibition clearly does work, we just need to ban everything.

Still no mention of one kid actually harmed by vapourtini bullshit. But you don't want to talk about that.

Where's that picture?

[AFK]

Because of course you know that kids are doing this, because of course they are.  It's what kids do, test boundaries.  What, there's a machine that can turn alcohol into vapor?  Cool, let's get one and try it out.


It's the same curiousity that leads to kids huffing. 


Nowhere in any of the articles provided in this thread does it say the sky is falling amd that every kid in America is going to be huffing bourbon.  That doesn't mean you can't make parents and others aware of this new gizmo and that some kids do appear to be drawn to it. 


You live in a very odd all-or-nothing paradigm.  Reality isn't that neat and tidy I'm afraid.

[Junkenstein]

So we need to alert parents every time something new could potentially harm a child? I call that fear-mongering. Which makes a lot of sense as your job seems to depend on people being scared and stupid.

But no, worry about potential threats. They're much more important than actual problems.

[AFK]

I was first made aware of this by police officers I work with, not the news media.  Do we shout about it from the rooftops?  No, because one of the negatives of dealing with these things through the news media is it becomes counterproductive and you turn kids onto it that would otherwise never have known about it.  But, it is important for professionals to be aware so if/when it does become a problem in our communities, we are equipped to respond accordingly.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

I was first made aware of this by police officers I work with, not the news media.  Do we shout about it from the rooftops?  No, because one of the negatives of dealing with these things through the news media is it becomes counterproductive and you turn kids onto it that would otherwise never have known about it.  But, it is important for professionals to be aware so if/when it does become a problem in our communities, we are equipped to respond accordingly.

Oh? And what were their numbers? Anything about hospitalization rates?