Trial ban on Mexxy drug

Police are warning those who have been supplying Methoxetamine that they will now be committing a criminal offence if they continue.

The government has announced that Methoxetamine (also known as Mexxy, Mket and MXE) is the first substance to come under a temporary banning order in the UK, which means that anyone supplying the drug to another person will commit an offence.

Force drugs co-ordinator Bryan Dent said: “The government has banned Methoxetamine, temporarily for 12 months, to allow the Advisory Council for the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) time to assess the harms this drug can cause to people and communities.

“Within that year, the ACMD will make recommendations as to whether the drug should be permanently banned and which classification category it should have.

“Within the 12 months, anyone found to be supplying the substance will commit an offence and be liable to arrest and prosecution. Although someone in simple possession will not commit an offence – police still have the power to search for and seize the substance.

”We welcome the temporary banning of Methoxetamine, and indeed any substance which causes problems for communities. We know Methoxetamine is and has been used in West Yorkshire, we have already had a seizure of the drug from the Wakefield area, when it caused someone to become violent towards police officers and to act in an anti-social manner – so we welcome any mechanism which will help control that kind of behaviour.”

Methoxetamine is a white powder and before being temporarily banned was classed as a so-called ‘legal high’.

It is being marketed as a safer alternative to Ketamine – a Class C drug –but without Ketamine’s harmful effect on the bladder.

Mr Dent said: “There is no evidence to support the marketing claim that it is less harmful than Ketamine, and users of Methoxetamine run the risk of harmful health effects.

“Suppliers run the risk of arrest and their assets being seized.”