After PIL by doctors, Centre considering banning the drug Mephedrone

The Centre on Tuesday informed the Bombay high court that it is actively considering banning Mephedrone, a drug also known as M-Cat or Meow Meow in the party circuit.

A division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice BP Colabawala directed the Centre to file its affidavit by February 27, stating its decision. The state government had recently sent a proposal to the Centre seeking a ban on substance.

The information was given during the hearing of a PIL filed by a city-based doctor, Dr Yusuf Merchant. The PIL states that the drug is cheap and an easily available chemical formulation, or an analog, belonging to the Amphetamine and Cathinone family of drugs. Further, it says that Methamphetamine (Crystal Meth) and Methylene Dioxyamphetamine (MDMA or Ecstasy) are banned substances under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985.

However, M-Cat, though belonging to the same family, has more potent effects, and is not included. The PIL seeks to bring Mephedrone under the ambit of the NDPS Act, to bring analogs of all abusive drugs under the Act, and to give powers to a nodal agency like the NCB to temporarily ban the drug.

The PIL also states that M-Cat, which is manufactured in India and China, is marketed as a plant feed or bath salts on the internet.

"Addicts, who are as young as 14, order products online. They order those varieties under which it is mentioned that the product is not fit for human consumption, thus posing a danger to their health," the plea reads.

It was also argued that up to to 53 countries have banned M-Cat since it started making waves in the party circuit. Israel was the first to ban it in 2008, followed by the UK in 2010 and the US in 2011.