Urgent warning over fake drugs being sold to UK clubbers
Fake MDMA appears the be doing the rounds in Manchester, where a batch has been found to contain a potentially deadly designer drug.
It’s prompted an urgent warning from Manchester Drug Analysis and Knowledge Exchange (Mandrake), a harm reduction group at Manchester Metropolitan University.
A warning on social media said: ‘Multiple samples of beige powder, potentially mis-sold as MDMA, confirmed by Mandrake, to contain synthetic cathinone, 4F-α-PVP, in Manchester.
‘Not much known about this substance but has been implicated fatalities. If unwell seek medical attention.’
Dubbed a ‘designer drug’, 4F-α-PVP is a type of synthetic created to chemically resemble the mind-altering properties of khat, a plant chewed for stimulant effects in parts of Africa.
Although synthetic cathinones have been linked to some deaths, they mostly ‘also involved other psychoactive substances’, according to the government’s Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs.
Usually cathinone-related deaths are caused by overheating, high blood pressure and heart attacks.
Research in Finland found most deaths were among men aged 25 to 44, who had a history of abusing multiple drugs.
Around 29% of those deaths were blamed on the detected synthetic cathinones.
Fake drugs can be a major hazard however, because people make misinformed choices about dosing.
This is particularly the case with synthetic opioids that may be many times the strength of the heroin they’re replacing.
Up to 33 people fell ill after taking an unknown substance they thought was heroin in London earlier this month.
One of those received emergency first air after suffering a cardiac arrest in Camden.
Police believe the drugs were actually synthetic opioids, which can be incredibly dangerous – the UK issued a ban on them last year.
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