Health fears as new legal high floods the streets advertised as 'safe ketamine'



Methoxetamine may have killed two people at the weekend, police say

It is sold as 'not fit for human consumption'

Drug can be easily purchased online for £17 per gram

Legal high: Methoxetamine was linked to two deaths in Leicestershire at the weekend

A new legal high billed as a safe alternative to ketamine is flooding on to Britain's streets, a charity has said.

Methoxetamine - which can easily be bought online - has seen a surge in popularity in Britain and across northern Europe in recent months.



The drug, also known as MXE or mexxy, is described as having the same effect as ketamine without the side effects.

However, police are linking it to the deaths of a 59-year-old woman and a 32-year-old man in Leicester and Melton Mowbray over the weekend.

It is believed to be the first time the new high has been linked to fatalities in Britain.



Detective Inspector Rob Widdowson, of Leicestershire Police, said: 'We are investigating the circumstances leading to the deaths of these two people in order to prepare files for the coroner.

'One of our lines of inquiry is that prior to their deaths both people may have taken a form of the drug ketamine, known medically as methoxetamine, which may have been purchased over the internet.'

Party drug: Methoxetamine has been billed as a safe alternative to ketamine - although there is no evidence the claims are true

However, MXE has become popular because unlike ketamine it is claimed it does not cause severe bladder cramps.

THE LEGAL HIGHS FLOODING OUR STREETS

Methoxetamine is just the latest legal high to appear on Britain's streets. Many of the concoctions are dangerous - but because the authorities know so little about them they can be taken without fear of prosecution. The number of legal highs on sale hit 40 last year, up from just 13 in 2008.

Doctors believe that these drugs could lead to psychosis, liver damage and even death — warnings which are going unheeded by ­consumers, and the Government.

As these drugs are legal, it means premium prices - and profits. For instance, a small packet of Blast Off - a herbal marijuana substitute - costs £30, more than four times the price of the same amount of marijuana.

However, far from being a benign, risk-free way of taking drugs, the growing army of British users are risking their lives by ingesting potentially lethal ­cocktails of chemicals, often concocted by corrupt pharmacists working in China and India. The legal high Mephedrone - or meow meow - was banned in 2010 after being linked to up to 100 deaths. However, it was rapidly replaced by MDMA. Ivory Cove is another popular 'legal high' which is yet to be banned.



Also, as ketamine is an illegal Class C drug, anyone taking the legal high is not at risk of prosecution.

But despite claims that MXE is 'safer' than the illegal alternative there is no evidence that it is true - and experts say that it can cause mental health problems.

It is sold online as plant feeder or bath salt in the same way as mephedrone was before it was banned.

It is marked as 'not fit for human consumption'.

The authors of a Druglink Street Drug Trends 2011 report wrote: ' As with the former legal high drug mephedrone, which mimicked ecstasy and cocaine, ketamine now has its legal doppelganger – in the form of methoxetamine (MXE).

'The drug is sometimes advertised online as a "bladder-friendly" ketamine substitute, has similar effects to its illegal counterpart and according to one expert has "an expanding fan-base".'

The drug is sold online for around £17 per gram.

The line between illegal and legal recreational drugs has become blurred in recent years with a number of legal substitutes flooding the market.

Fiona Measham, a researcher for the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs, told the Independent: 'The new kid on the block seems to be methoxetamine.