Even hardened drug users have found a new “legal high” hard to handle. Health Editor Barry Nelson listened to warnings about a synthetic narcotic which is becoming more widely available across the region.

PAUL from Teesdale ended up on suicide watch at his local psychiatric hospital after bingeing on a perfectly legal drug, mephedrone.

The former cocaine user, 28, believes the drug, known on the street as drone, bubble or meow, is even more addictive than his former, illegal drug of choice.

In fact, Paul (not his real name) says drone creates an intense craving which can only be satisfied by another, bigger fix and recommends that casual drug users should give it a wide berth.

With prices in the North-East falling from £25 a gram down to £15 or even £10 in recent months, Paul believes mephedrone should be banned as soon as possible before there are more tragedies in the UK.

But despite increasing evidence that mephedrone constitutes a serious threat, there is still no sign that the Government is going to fast-track a banning order. The process of ruling whether synthetically produced new drugs should be controlled and made illegal is relatively slow.

Mephedrone, also known as 4-MMC, is in a queue of new drugs produced in foreign laboratories to feed the apparently limitless demand in the UK, which are waiting to be assessed by experts.

Bizarrely, rural Teesdale became the focus of media attention a few months ago after five people were taken to hospital suffering from the effects of taking mephedrone.

In one case a man, not Paul, took 36 hours to come down from his drug-induced high and then suffered serious paranoia.

There were also reports of a police officer being assaulted by someone high on the drug.

Durham Police are warning of reports of m e p h e d r o n e being mixed with illegal drugs such as amphetamine and cocaine.

“From the start I thought it was good stuff but it turned out to be really sinister,”

says Paul, who spent a week in West Park psychiatric hospital, in Darlington, after his behaviour resulted in him being picked up by the police.

MEPHEDRONE has been engineered by chemists to mimic the effects of illegal drugs such as cocaine, ecstasy and amphetamine, but because it is slightly different chemically, it is not illegal to buy.

Normally swallowed or snorted, there are some reports that some users are injecting it.

Users have reported symptoms including nose bleeds, paranoia, palpitations, memory problems and difficulty in sleeping. In some cases, users have reacted so strongly that they have needed to be resuscitated.

At the weekend, The Observer newspaper reported that growing numbers of young people are needing emergency medical treatment around the country after taking mephedrone.

York District Hospital has seen a rise in admissions due to mephedrone use, while there are also reports of young people needing emergency hospital treatment in West Yorkshire and Dundee.

Paul believes he was probably one of the first drug users in the UK to order mephedrone over the internet in August 2008. It cost £100 from a website and consisted of yellow powder in capsules.

He said: “The first lot I got used to stink. It was yellow and really stung your nose.”

But it was when he bought another batch of the drug, sold as plant food or bubble bath, in March last year that he began to suffer serious problems.

“This was pure stuff. It was white and didn’t smell, it was crystal and more powerful.”

He became rapidly addicted, taking more and more in an effort to keep the intense high going.

“When you take it you want more straight away. You are clamouring for it. It is as if you have lost all your self-control and self-respect.

I have felt this way before. It was just like the craving you get for cocaine,” says Paul.

Paul says he has seen people going through bins looking for something to eat because they have spent all their money on drone, adding: “It turns women completely. They are quite vulnerable to it. Another contact of mine started behaving very erratically and attracted the attention of the police. He was running through the fields, making animal noises.

“Everyone is using it, even some people you wouldn’t dream of ever taking drugs.”

PC Dave Williamson, based at Barnard Castle police station, warns casual drug users not to be lulled into a false sense of security because mephedrone is seen as a legal high. Anyone found with what looks like a controlled drug could end up in a police cell while the unidentified substance is tested.

There is also the question of whether the legal high you have bought is actually quite as legal as you thought.

“If you buy mephedrone there’s nothing to say it hasn’t got illegal drugs mixed in,” says PC Williamson. “We are finding that it is now getting cut with amphetamine and cocaine.

“What I am saying is that when people are buying what they believe is mephedrone it could contain other types of controlled drugs.”

Paul agrees. During treatment for his problem drug use, he failed a routine test designed to detect traces of cocaine and amphetamine, despite consuming what he thought was pure mephedrone.

“There are even greedy people out there who will mix it with paracetamol. You just don’t know what you are getting,” he says.

Paul fears that unless mephedrone is made illegal, lives in the North-East will be lost.

But while drug dealers are making a reported profit of £7,500 on a one kilogram consignment from China costing £2,500, the struggle to contain mephedrone could be protracted.