https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-stoke-staffordshire-45144531
Use of a drug which can put users in a violent, paranoid state with "superhuman strength" is at epidemic levels, emergency workers have warned.
Dubbed Monkey Dust, the "highly unpredictable" substance has caused people to jump off buildings and run into traffic, police said.
Stoke-on-Trent, resembled a scene from a zombie film thanks to the drug, one paramedic told the BBC.
I just had to post this because it makes me laugh so much. I have bolded the specific ridiculous suggestions in the article. To be honest, I've never heard of Monkey Dust. The article doesn't even tell us what the substance is, but I presume, from the description, that it's an analogue of PCP, mainly due to PCP being called Angel Dust and also because of the symptoms. 3-MeO-PCP, perhaps?
Article's a few days old, but I can't see it here.
Monkey dust is not a dissoassociative or analog of pcp. It is an analog of Bath Salts, or a synthetic cathinone. It's chemical name is MDPHP. The best I can describe what bath salts are is like a longer lasting, edgier cocaine. Synthetic Cathinones have the most in common, pharmacodynamically, with cocaine and maybe meth. They are reuptake inhibitors of dopamine and norepinephrine primarily, though the MD- variety of synthcaths have been known to anecdotally feel like they possess some serotonin action.
I have done plenty of MDPHP, and I can say that people who are addicted to it kindof mindboggle me. It is nowhere near addictive as the original bath salts MDPV/A-PVP. But it is certainly an addictive stimulant; I'd put it on par with cocaine.
What the odds it's the same name for a different drugs? I don't think anyone ever referred to research chems as bath salts here. We may have never really bad bath salts (until now)
I'm just using the information in all the UK news articles, cited from Public Health England: LMGTFY
I'd skimmed over that part
It's basically just another instance of blaming the drug/game/weapon when instead it's not those that are the problem, but instead the person, you can have one normal level headed person and another nut job take the same substance, but the nut job might lose his shit and go out beating people up, whereas the level headed person just enjoys getting high as shit.
As someone who lives in Stoke-on-Trent, I can confirm it resembles a film from a zombie scene year round.
In seriousness, it does seem to be getting pretty bad. I got the bus into Hanley, the city centre, more or less 4 days a week for 3 years, and the state of the place is just unbelievable. There is a homeless problem which is steadily getting worse, and people walking around pissed, high, or just generally being a nuisance all day. Once I left Staffordshire uni, which is just down the road, I basically swore off ever going back, seeing that shit every day is too depressing.
Thanks for the clarification. If it's a cathinone, I imagine it'll be a stimulant with a fair amount of serotonin action to boot. You say that they anecdotally seem to affect serotonin, but I can assure you that cathinones such as mephedrone and methylone definitely release and inhibit the reuptake of serotonin. MDPV is a highly dopaminergic substance, so there's unlikely to be any serotonin action with that substance.
I've had serious problems with drugs in the past, but I agree that the reporting is ridiculously hyperbolic, as all stories about drugs are. I once actually read a BBC article about mephedrone but in the article they called it methadone - a completely different class of drug that affect opioid receptors. It just makes their idiocy so transparent on that subject.
Your final comment about how it couldn't cause these issues in mentally healthy people I believe is incorrect though. Yes, drug use is fine in moderation, but if people cane a substance all night, especially if it releases dopamine, they often can't get to sleep and psychosis can occur. I've had minor and moderately bad psychosis before due to my extremely irresponsible use of so many drugs when at university, primarily a symptom of my existing depression that developed before the drug use.
Glad to hear you kicked the habit though, and thanks for the information!
Yeah, I'm not saying using it isn't very risky. I just meant that the raw use of the drug alone (at a normal dose) usually won't cause an issue; assuming the person isn't damaging themselves with sleep/food deprivation; which excessive use of the drug does risk. I am 5'10 and got down to 115 at the peak of my addiction. Once was on 5 days with no sleep and only a few thousand calories after an A-PHP binge; I wasn't psychotic and I was coherent, merely extremely manic. LSD has given me psychosis with a full rest and food though.
I was honestly 6 stone at 5'7 at the peak of my habit. I looked genuinely emaciated. My mum was so upset.
a-PHP is miles better and miles safer than MD-PHP.
MD-PHP is much, much more likely to trigger serious levels of psychosis as well as being significantly more addictive in my opinion.
Is the MD part methylenedioxy?
I'd say it's more comparable to a-PVP (not so much potency, but it's proclivity for triggering psychosis).
Didn't expect it to end up in the news though, the only place I knew it was available stopped selling it very very quickly.
Just looked it up. I was right.
"Methylenedioxypyrrolidinohexiophenone"
I think the "superhuman strength" they're mentioning is just the same phenomenon as "retard strength" in the mentally handicapped.
Like mental deficiency, some drugs can impair a person's strength inhibitors. When your brain is functioning normally, those inhibitors - such as certain types of pain - keep your maximum conscious exertion of your muscles way below their actual potential, because getting anywhere near that potential - let alone for an extended period of time - can seriously damage them; we're actually far stronger than we think, it's just we tear ourselves apart if we actually use our real strength (plus diverting the necessary energy to the muscles to power that strength can screw with our other body systems) and so we've evolved to have a sort of biological failsafe that only unlocks that strength when we absolutely need it (as in, a life-or-death situation). But impair those inhibitors in some way? If a person's sense of pain is dulled, if they're hopped up on adrenaline shots or some drug, or if their brain just hasn't developed properly? In such a state, they'll be much stronger than they otherwise would be - hence the perceived "superhuman strength" - but that's because that biological failsafe has been compromised, and it's possible that they could end up hurting themselves if they're not careful, which they're probably not being if they're mentally handicapped or on a mind-altering substance.
I think it's more the 'superhuman' part I found dumb. If they'd just said that norepinephrine release/reuptake inhibition was making people slightly stronger, I'd find the article less absurd. You're right that we're stronger than we think though - our muscles actually have the potential to break our bones, hence the body's regulation of how much they contract, at least in sober situations. Norepinephrine can trigger the Sympathetic Nervous System's fight-or-flight reflex, and if it goes to fight, we're probably going to be a little bit stronger, yes.
Yeah from experience (I had some nasty psychosis from MD-PHP last January that I still haven't entirely recovered from) it's the psychosis / fear from that triggered your fight/flight instinct.
I had very serious psychosis once. Even a tiny noise would make me jump out my skin. It was so fucking scary.
Oh my goodness, that's beautiful. Thanks for sharing, sorry for what happened; drug addiction is fucking hard.
This whole article remind me of the ice-t svu fake drugs meme.
https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--a0p5_UKs--/c_scale,f_auto,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/vbxga5x4f5fop6xrh7jl.jpg
Having graduated from staffs (Stafford campus) I can confirm things can get pretty grim
Essex is the worst.
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