A common question we get asked via email is this – is there such thing as a mephedrone drugs test?
Mephedrone, or MCat, gets its name from the chemical compound from which it is derived – 4-methylmethcathinone. It smells like cat wee, which is why it is often called meow meow. Other common names for the MCat or Mephedrone are ‘drone’ and ‘bubble’.
What Is Mephedrone Made From?
Mephedrone is a synthetic stimulant drug, which means it’s artificially created rather than derived from plants. The primary ingredient used to manufacture mephedrone is cathine, a naturally occurring amphetamine found in the khat plant. However, by tweaking the chemical structure, underground chemists create a much more potent, addictive, and dangerous substance.
Through an intricate synthesis process, cathine gets converted to mephedrone (4-methylmethcathinone). While the specifics vary, it typically involves reacting cathine with various solvents, reducing agents, and methylation reagents. Unfortunately, this is often done in clandestine labs with zero quality control or safety measures.
So that users can buy the drug under the pretence of a more innocent use, it is often described as bath salts or plant food on its packaging, even though it is clearly neither. Mephedrone is a short-acting stimulant that users says feels like a mix of cocaine and ecstasy when taken. Since 2010, Mephedrone has been classified as a Class B drug, making it illegal to use, give away or sell.
The Unpredictable Dangers of Mephedrone
Because mephedrone manufacturing happens illicitly, there’s no way to verify what’s actually in the drug. Each batch could contain varying levels of the active ingredient, contaminants, or other substances entirely. Users simply have no idea what they’re ingesting.
This unpredictability dramatically increases health risks like overdosing, toxic exposure, or adverse reactions. Mephedrone has been linked to seizures, heart problems, overheating, paranoia, and psychosis. Its effects are also highly dose-dependent, adding further danger for those unaware of the true potency.
Unlike regulated medications produced under strict controls, recreational mephedrone preparations are a sketchy game of Russian roulette. You’re blindly trusting unscrupulous underground manufacturers motivated solely by profits. Play at your own peril.
The long term effects of taking MCat remain unknown. However the profile of the drug remains quite high in the media due to a number of deaths linked to the drug in recent years.. What we do know from various user reports and observations is that is a highly addictive drug that can also be quite harmful to a user’s mental health.
Is there a mephedrone drugs test?
The question, “can mephedrone be detected by a drugs test?”, is not that simple to answer. Mephedrone CAN be detected by a drugs test, but it really depends on what method of drugs test is being used.
Mephedrone Drugs Test using a Urine Drug Screen
The most common form of drugs test, one often used by employers to screen staff and job applicants, is a urine drugs test kit. Normally, these will be multi-parameter drugs test that can detect up to 12 common groups of drugs from one sample of urine. At the moment, most of these types of drugs tests will not detect mephedrone. However, sometimes a urine drug test is taken and the tests are then sent off to an external laboratory for testing. In this situation, it may be possible to detect mephedrone drug usage from a urine sample as the testing of samples in this way will be more accurate.
Is it actually Mephedrone that is being used?
Many users of mephedrone may not be aware of exactly what they are taking. Street drugs are not regulated so that white powder could be a mixture of anything! What has been sold to them as mephedrone may actually contain amphetamines or methamphetamines. These are drugs that CAN be detected by a urine drug test kit.
Mephedrone Drugs Test using Saliva
Mephedrone can also be detected by an oral drug swab. These drug tests take a sample of saliva which is then sent of to a lab for analysis. As well a being a mephedrone drugs test, this kind of drug testing will detect the use of any drugs of abuse.
Mephedrone Drugs Test using a surface wipe
If identification of a powder residue of a drug is a priority, then one way of doing this is by swabbing a surface and sending of that sample swab to a lab for analysis. This is a service that Zoom Testing can offer. As well as being a mephedrone drugs test, this type of test will also identify any other drugs that have been found in the swab sample at the same time.
For more information on Mephedrone, Talk To Frank.
The Backwards Logic of Banning Mephedrone
While legislators banned mephedrone to protect public health, the unintended consequence was creating a lucrative illegal market. Organized crime quickly filled the supply void, manufacturing mephedrone under even shadier conditions for massive profits.
The regulatory ban also halted medical research into potentially therapeutic uses for mephedrone and its derivatives. Some argue scheduling these synthetic cathinones as tightly controlled medicines could allow legitimate production while curbing abuse.
Either way, the reactive prohibitionist approach of criminalising mephedrone failed to curb its popularity and simply created more dangers through an unregulated illegal trade. More rational drug policies are sorely needed.
Photo: “Mephedrone” by Anthony Cunningham for Zoom Testing
Zoom Testing is a leading UK drug testing company and a supplier of Drug Test Kits.
