Danger party drug sold from Blackburn tobacconist's

9:20am Thursday 18th March 2010

By Catherine Pye

A PARTY drug linked to the deaths of two teenagers is being openly sold from a tobacconist's in Blackburn.

The Lancashire Telegraph yesterday paid £15 for one gram of mephedrone at Smokers World in Blackburn town centre.

Despite being classed as a plant food it was on sale at the Higher Church Street shop which sells tobacco, newspapers, sweets, chocolate and soft drinks.

The drug was even on show in a display on the counter, with 28 grams costing £250.

Following the Telegraph investigation, police have pledged to visit the shop, while Blackburn MP Jack Straw said there was great concern the drug was 'freely available' in the town'.

It comes as the Government comes under pressure to ban the drug following the deaths of two teenagers in Scunthorpe. Ministers have pledged to 'speedily' complete a review into its legality.

Mephedrone, also known as Bubble, is a legal drug derived from plant food said to have a similar affect to cocaine when snorted.

In East Lancashire, police said the use of the substance as a party drug is causing growing concern. Pub and club owners have reported a rise in the number of people attempting to take it on their premises.

It is largely available for sale on the internet. Other East Lancashire tobacconist contacted by us said that they did not, and had not, stocked the drug.

The Telegraph went to the Smokers World Shop where a worker sold the drug to our reporter.

He said: "I’ve only been selling it for four or five weeks and at that time it wasn’t so high profile. There wasn’t all the news about kids dying.

“I think the bad effects are happening when people are cutting it up with other things like methanone and drinking alcohol, but mine is pure. It’s not cut up at all.

“But I’m wondering about selling it now. I’m going to have a word with my supplier who is a man from Ireland.

“We’re not selling a lot of it to be honest, and there’s a mixture of ages. A lot of middle-aged people are coming in for it, and I prefer selling it to them, because I think they’re less likely to abuse it.

“I personally won’t sell it to anyone who can’t prove to me they’re over 18, because the kids are more likely to cut it up with something else.”

Chief Inspector Kevin Evans said: "We will be making a visit to this premises in the next couple of days to give them some advice with regards to who they are selling to, being aware of the dangers and that it could reflect badly on them should something go wrong."

Superintendent Terry Woods said: “It is incredibly dangerous and I don’t think those taking it quite realise what it is.

“My concern is that it is the younger element - teenagers - who are buying it off the Internet and taking it as a legal high.”

Chris Lee, from the Lancashire Drug and Alcohol Action Team (DAAT), said: "People should be extremely cautious if they take this substance and it should not be on sale because we do not know the full extent of the harm it can cause, particularly if it is mixed with alcohol or other drugs."

Chris Woodissee, manager of F J Nichols, and member of Blackburn’s Bar U scheme, said use of the drug had increased noticeably in the last few months.

He said: “I’ve had several conversations with the police about this drug, and even though it’s technically legal, we would still remove anyone from the premises if we found them snorting it.

“It looks like cocaine. It’s a white powder that’s got slightly coarser crystals, and apparently the effects are like a combination of ecstacy and cocaine.

“The thing is, when we catch people taking it, we don’t know whether it’s Bubble or a class A drug, and we don’t want either on the premises.

“We’ve noticed a rise in the amount of people we’ve had to eject as the number of people who know about it increases.

“I would say that the use of this drug goes more hand in hand with some genres of entertainment than others. For example, you’d be more likely to find it being used by dance kids rather than rockers.

“But the bottom line as far as the Bar U is concerned, is that we will not tolerate its use. We will bar anyone found with it, and give anything we seize to the police.”

Blackburn MP and Justice Minister Jack Straw said he did not wish to comment on individual sellers, but said: “I think there is a very strong case for banning this substance, and I will be speaking to Home Secretary Alan Johnson about it.

“I’m quite sure that the vast majority of people in Blackburn will be greatly concerned that it is freely available in the town.”

Dave Brown, manager at Liquid nightclub in Blackburn, said: "I've not really heard about it. It is something we will be keeping an eye out for now.

"If it looks like cocaine, it might be that we have previously mistaken it for cocaine."

Nineteen-year-old Nicholas Smith and his friend Louis Wainwright, 18, from Lincolnshire, died on Monday after taking the drug on a night out.

An official review of mephedrone was put back because of fallout from the sacking of the Government's chief drugs adviser Professor David Nutt last year, it has been reported.

Teachers' leaders said the drug was as dangerous as Class A drugs such as heroin and cocaine and urged the Government to ban it.