World news story

UK secures UN ban on ‘legal high’ mephedrone

UK-led proposal to introduce international controls on ‘legal high’ drug at UNODC Commission on Narcotic Drugs.

• From: UK Mission to the UN in Vienna
• Published: 13 March 2015

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

UK side event on New Psychoactive Substances at the 2015 Commission on Narcotic Drugs

United Nation headquarters, Vienna, Austria

Friday 13 March, 2015

A UK-led proposal to internationally control the drug mephedrone was adopted by the United Nations’ (UN) Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) in Vienna. Mephedrone is already controlled as a Class B substance in the UK. This international initiative is part of a concerted range of action taken by the government to respond to the challenges caused by New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) – known as ‘legal highs’.

This is the first time a New Pyschoactive Substance (NPS) has been controlled by all United Nation members and is therefore an important milestone in international action taken to combat the rise in dangerous and harmful NPS. Mephedrone was recommended to the CND for control by the World Health Organisation following its review of the substance in 2014. Mephedrone has no medical, industrial or scientific use and has been linked to 60 deaths in the UK between 2009 and 2014.

Read more on the UK response to challenges of new psychoactive substances.

Published 13 March 2015