Surge in monkey dust drug use linked to social media, police say

Police chiefs have linked a surge in the use of a psychoactive substance known as monkey dust, which causes volatile and dangerous behaviour among users, to social media.

Monkey dust, or MDPV, is a class B drug that has gained popularity in recent months in the West Midlands, particularly in Stoke-on-Trent, although few other police forces have noted its use.

Ch Supt Jeff Moore, Staffordshire police’s head of neighbourhood policing and partnerships, has warned of a potential public health crisis if it is not immediately tackled.

He said the force was receiving an average of 10 or more calls a day related to the drug, with 950 incidents responded to in the past three months.

Commander Simon Bray, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead on drugs, said drug use often spreads rapidly in certain areas due to conversations on social media.

“It becomes common in relation to a group of friends and then news about it is spread more easily through social media than it would through phone or word of mouth,” he said.

“It is not a concerted plan, but once someone has had monkey dust and starts extolling its virtues or selling it locally, dealers respond to that.

“It may be that someone has accessed large amounts of the substance, or it may be to do with trends and dealers cottoning on to the fact monkey dust is the thing of moment and saying whatever they are selling is that.”

Monkey dust is an off-white powder that can be swallowed, injected or snorted. Although it is synthetic, MDPV is from a family of drugs known as cathinones which include the naturally occurring stimulant khat.

The substance originated in the US, where it was known as bath salts and outlawed under Barack Obama in 2012. It was also legal in the UK until 2010, when it was reclassified as a class B drug in legal changes designed to tackle the rise of mephedrone.

When officers respond to an incident involving monkey dust, they find users are extremely paranoid, which causes them to be violent and agitated.

Moore said: “The drug is highly addictive and highly unpredictable, meaning emergency services can often struggle to provide the appropriate treatment to those under the influence. Every user acts differently, displaying behaviour that is volatile and dangerous to both the user and emergency services personnel responding.

“The level of resource required is often far greater than we have experienced before, with some suffering the effects of use for several days.”

“By starting this very public conversation, we hope to work with partners to create a joined-up approach that will hopefully lower the number of people using the drug and tackle the production and supply of the drug.”

Monkey dust lessens people’s perceptions of pain and causes strong hallucinations that lead to severe paranoia.

Bray, who is also head of Metropolitan police security and specialist operations, said there was currently no suggestion the drug would spread to other areas, and use of it seemed to be centred on West Mercia and the West Midlands.

“I am aware of the media reports and senior police saying it is significant problem. If they are saying that in certain areas … we will keep a listening watch, but our own investigation shows that it has not yet caused concern in a force as large as the Metropolitan police … We are monitoring and will keep an eye out at the moment,” he said.

West Midlands ambulance service has responded to 229 calls related to monkey dust since January. It said cases were from across the area, although anecdotally, two-thirds of them appear to be from north Staffordshire.

“People who take these substances have absolutely no way of knowing what is contained within them as the chemicals are untested and unregulated,” a spokesman said.

“The effect on the patient can vary considerably; our staff often treat legal high [new psychoactive substance] users who have suffered seizures, heart attacks and strokes. Some patients are left with long term illnesses, while others never wake up.”

Prof David Nutt, a former government adviser on drugs, said the 2016 Psychoactive Substances Act had resulted in cathinones becoming stronger.

“Closing the headshops means we now have no control over what is sold: everything is now on the black market … and there is now no quality control. We have driven people from a weak cathinone to a strong one – that happens with prohibition,” he said.

Drug-testing facilities should be introduced in areas such as Stoke-on-Trent to look into what exactly is in monkey dust, Nutt added, and reclassifying such drugs as class As would not be wise. “Moving drugs up classes is a pretence of activity and has no value at all,” he said.