:00:08. > :00:13.Everyone used to laugh at me and say that I didn't look like a
:00:13. > :00:16.typical drug dealer, which I didn't. MCat. The drug they call meow meow
:00:16. > :00:24.is big business on the streets of Wales. It's cheap, addictive, and
:00:24. > :00:28.deadly. Police! Police! Tonight we follow police as they deal with the
:00:28. > :00:30.fall out. People self-harming, biting themselves, chewing their
:00:30. > :00:34.own tongues. They have superhuman strength. They want to injure
:00:34. > :00:38.themselves, injure anyone around them. Have you got anything on you
:00:38. > :00:48.that can harm me or you sharps, blades? It burns like you wouldn't
:00:48. > :01:20.
:01:20. > :01:28.Police in Wales are fighting a new battle in the war on drugs. Just to
:01:28. > :01:31.confirm this is a strike, yes? Strike? Strike? We are driving to
:01:31. > :01:39.the target's premises. We suspect he has taken possession of a
:01:39. > :01:42.quantity of an unknown quantity of mephedrone this evening.
:01:42. > :01:46.Deadly meow meow is mephedrone and it's flooding the drugs market in
:01:46. > :01:56.Wales. They know their target is a mephedrone user and they think he
:01:56. > :01:56.
:01:56. > :02:02.might have been dealing from his I guess it demonstrates to me the
:02:02. > :02:06.dangers the police face daily in their routine work. You can see
:02:06. > :02:09.this has been sharpened, so clearly it has a use.
:02:09. > :02:12.It's not long before they find a white powder.
:02:12. > :02:16.A small amount of mephedrone was found on him when he was first
:02:16. > :02:22.detained so he's been arrested for that. He's very high, mood swings
:02:22. > :02:29.are up and down, very significant at the moment. We are conducting a
:02:29. > :02:33.thorough search on the house. Mephedrone originally appeared as a
:02:33. > :02:37.party drug. But it has been illegal to possess or sell it for more than
:02:37. > :02:46.two years. It is listed as a Class B drug but, since the ban, there's
:02:46. > :02:49.been a dramatic rise in crimes Police are still trying to discover
:02:49. > :02:53.why mephedrone appears to be such a problem in Wales compared to the
:02:53. > :02:57.rest of the UK. And how criminal gangs are getting millions of
:02:57. > :03:00.pounds worth of the drug onto our streets. Tonight as we go
:03:00. > :03:10.undercover to investigate the trade, we'll ask whether the law is tough
:03:10. > :03:13.
:03:13. > :03:18.In Newport, last year 20-year-old Rachel Wood was sleeping on the
:03:18. > :03:24.streets. Her addiction to mephedrone put her here. I used to
:03:24. > :03:27.come here at night, settle down for the night, find somewhere to sleep.
:03:27. > :03:34.If there was a cubby hole, that was home, that was safety, where you
:03:34. > :03:37.felt safe. But Rachel was far from safe. Especially from the dealers.
:03:37. > :03:43.Like others across Wales, they never miss a chance to make dirty
:03:43. > :03:46.money. They try to make out they are doing you a favour more than
:03:47. > :03:50.anything. They always say, we'll do you two for this price and we'll do
:03:50. > :03:55.it for you it at this price as a favour for you. They are your
:03:55. > :03:59.friend till you have got nothing. When you owe them money, they will
:03:59. > :04:04.make sure they get the money no matter how they get it. But they
:04:04. > :04:14.know you will keep going back. Rachel's craving for meow meow
:04:14. > :04:20.
:04:21. > :04:30.became so desperate, she started begging. That's when you know you
:04:31. > :04:33.
:04:33. > :04:38.In Swansea, police cracked down on the dealing of heroin last year but
:04:38. > :04:44.since then, mephedrone has taken its place. Out on the streets, one
:04:44. > :04:52.user told us his life has been ruined by it. The result of his
:04:52. > :04:55.addiction is that he now has no job, no home and his life is in chaos.
:04:55. > :04:59.For legal reasons, we can't show his face. The new drug came out,
:04:59. > :05:07.meow meow. It's just taken over Swansea at the moment, it's
:05:07. > :05:10.everywhere. People are taking meow meow from the addiction of heroin.
:05:10. > :05:13.Mephedrone's a nicer buzz and last longer than gear because gear is so
:05:13. > :05:23.crap, so they're getting money's worth and paying �15 for a lot more
:05:23. > :05:31.
:05:31. > :05:34.Users swallow, sniff and inject the mephedrone. You get a warming
:05:34. > :05:44.feeling and you are breathing like a dragon for 30 seconds then for
:05:44. > :05:47.
:05:47. > :05:51.the next 30 minutes after, you are Police are gathering intelligence
:05:51. > :05:53.on crime gangs who are trafficking mephedrone across Wales. The
:05:53. > :06:01.information they are receiving illustrates the disturbing lengths
:06:01. > :06:04.some dealers are prepared to go to. Dealers are approaching young
:06:04. > :06:08.children in early high school and offering tasters for as little as a
:06:08. > :06:13.pound. That's taking place in South Wales, Dyfed-Powys and Gwent police
:06:14. > :06:21.force areas. There is a real ruthlessness about this so they are
:06:21. > :06:24.hooked, and they are the market for the future.
:06:24. > :06:30.Across wide areas of South and West Wales, mephedrone is pouring in.
:06:30. > :06:33.Police believe the trade is well organised.
:06:33. > :06:38.It's not relying on the traditional network of supply. It's being
:06:38. > :06:45.imported mainly from China, distributed through parcels. It's
:06:45. > :06:48.easier to get via the internet and relatively cheap as well.
:06:48. > :06:53.It is illegal to buy and sell mephedrone, but online, there's no
:06:53. > :07:03.shortage of dealers offering a door to door delivery service. All it
:07:03. > :07:05.
:07:05. > :07:11.takes is a few texts and emails. We're posing as potential buyers.
:07:11. > :07:17.We've already had a reply. Fresh mephedrone in stock. Anyone need?
:07:17. > :07:27.It's going very fast. They are saying �3,500 per kilo or
:07:27. > :07:30.5 kilos at �12,000. It's crystal form too.
:07:30. > :07:35.That's enough for thousands of deals on the street. They said, OK
:07:35. > :07:41.mate, we send all orders. Place orders by 3pm Monday to Friday for
:07:41. > :07:46.next day delivery. And how do we pay? The text says very anonymous
:07:46. > :07:56.if you pay via cash. One offers to post it to us from China. But would
:07:56. > :08:02.
:08:02. > :08:12.Police in South Wales are on another raid, this time to the home
:08:12. > :08:25.
:08:25. > :08:33.In every raid, officers now look Rob's just found cannabis leaf so
:08:33. > :08:35.that's going to be seized. And traces of a white powder on a card,
:08:35. > :08:40.which means it's been chopped cut and weighed. There's weighing
:08:40. > :08:43.scales been found in another room. Just for info, there's a lot of
:08:43. > :08:50.paraphernalia here as in snap seal bags, sandwich bags, scales,
:08:50. > :08:58.residues of powders. This white powder was sent away for analysis
:08:58. > :09:05.and the suspect was bailed. The number of mephedrone related crimes
:09:05. > :09:15.in Wales has risen by 83% in the last year. More and more MCat is
:09:15. > :09:16.
:09:16. > :09:20.being discovered on dealers who This bag containing a kilo of the
:09:20. > :09:24.drug was found in another unrelated raid in Swansea.
:09:24. > :09:28.It's being brought in, you can buy it via the internet, people can
:09:28. > :09:31.import it through the airports via ports. We are getting tips offs
:09:31. > :09:34.about it coming in and we're doing our best to intercept it. That's
:09:34. > :09:37.where such a seizure has probably come from. This amount on the
:09:37. > :09:42.streets could, depending on how its cut, equate to 4,000 street deals,
:09:42. > :09:52.a phenomenal amount which would flood the area basically. Dealers
:09:52. > :09:52.
:09:52. > :10:02.will cut it with anything to make Our drugs have arrived by post. The
:10:02. > :10:11.
:10:11. > :10:14.online dealers brag that it is top It has taken a week to get here.
:10:14. > :10:17.There's enough here for ten hits and they are already offering us
:10:17. > :10:19.more. We're getting the contents tested at a licensed lab.
:10:19. > :10:23.Former nurse Michelle Ricketts thought she could handle the drug,
:10:23. > :10:31.but within seven months of her first hit in at a party, she was
:10:31. > :10:34.behind bars. I've always been a very sensible girl. I've always had
:10:35. > :10:38.my head screwed on, what's right and wrong as such, and the drug
:10:38. > :10:46.just took over my life. It made me forget all the emotional problems I
:10:46. > :10:48.was having. It put me in a good state of mind initially.
:10:48. > :10:53.18 months ago, Michelle, from Abergavenny, was spending nearly
:10:53. > :10:59.�1,000 a week on mephedrone. She ended up stealing �100,000 from a
:10:59. > :11:03.company she worked for to help pay for her habit.
:11:03. > :11:06.I became something I never thought I would be - a druggy. I felt as
:11:06. > :11:10.though I lived a double life, I was attending work, but because I was
:11:10. > :11:13.partying so heavily on the weekend, I was taking grams of meow into
:11:13. > :11:23.work with me and going to the toilet and I would use it in work,
:11:23. > :11:27.just to keep me awake. I'd be able to hold a conversation, I'd be
:11:27. > :11:30.driving, driving my mum. Because I'd have no sleep, and psychosis
:11:30. > :11:33.was slipping in, it was quite normal for me to see seals jumping
:11:33. > :11:43.down the road, and I'd joke to myself, "Oh the seals are back,"
:11:43. > :11:50.and that was normal. It stops you from eating and drinking because it
:11:51. > :11:54.makes you feel like you have razor blades in your throat.
:11:54. > :11:57.Michelle knew the risks she was taking. Years before, she had
:11:57. > :12:01.trained as a nurse. But she was so heavily addicted, she even began
:12:01. > :12:06.selling mephedrone. I fell into dealing a little bit,
:12:06. > :12:10.only to friends and to people I knew. Everyone used to laugh at me
:12:10. > :12:14.and say that I didn't look like a typical drug dealer, which I didn't.
:12:14. > :12:20.It's not a proud moment for me, but I was always known as the queen of
:12:20. > :12:26.bombs. Someone came up to me and said, "Have you got a bomb on you?"
:12:26. > :12:34.And he had it. He was in such a state that he sat in the pub and
:12:34. > :12:37.pee'd himself. And I just looked and just thought I'd done that. And
:12:37. > :12:40.that brought it home to me that's notnormal behaviour, I shouldn't be
:12:40. > :12:44.proud of that. Michelle says the drug is so
:12:44. > :12:51.powerful, it changed her beyond recognition. Back in Swansea, this
:12:51. > :12:55.user says getting hold of mephedrone is quick and easy.
:12:55. > :13:01.Ten minutes to get to the place, couple of seconds to phone them to
:13:01. > :13:05.come. Ten minutes to get to the place, a few seconds to get the
:13:05. > :13:07.person. In half an hour, you'd have it and come back and have your hit.
:13:07. > :13:11.Heroin dealers now are thinking of turning to selling meow because
:13:11. > :13:18.it's quick money to be made. OK, you gotta give more, it's more
:13:18. > :13:25.substance but it's selling quicker. But to buy it, he says he has had
:13:25. > :13:28.to resort to crime. Sitting in Castle Square Gardens,
:13:28. > :13:35.walking up and down the high street shoplifting to support my habit,
:13:35. > :13:42.drinking on the streets. It's hard for us to stay on the streets the
:13:42. > :13:48.way the streets are at the moment with a new drug meow out. And we're
:13:48. > :13:53.addicts, it's hard at the moment. And drugs support agencies are
:13:53. > :13:58.finding it hard too. Referrals are rising rapidly as more and more
:13:58. > :14:02.users turn to them for help. I've been doing this for seven
:14:02. > :14:12.years. I have never seen any one drug take over as quickly,
:14:12. > :14:14.
:14:14. > :14:20.especially considering not long ago At the needle exchange, Kimberly
:14:20. > :14:22.and her colleagues are seeing users with injuries and infections.
:14:22. > :14:28.I'm seeing people who've been injecting heroin for years, good
:14:28. > :14:33.injecting techniques. A couple of weeks on meow and we are seeing the
:14:33. > :14:37.injuries. The drug affects blood circulation,
:14:37. > :14:45.particularly to the hands and feet. This man agreed to show us the
:14:45. > :14:48.consequences. His toes are infected and his nails are lifting off.
:14:48. > :14:57.I'm seeing bruises, abscesses, all sorts of nasty things coming up on
:14:57. > :15:03.people's arms. This user last took mephedrone a
:15:03. > :15:08.week ago. That was from injecting in a vein in my finger. Started as
:15:08. > :15:12.water blisters, then it's just eating away at my skin pretty much.
:15:12. > :15:16.I was a heroin addict for four and a half years and it didn't do half
:15:16. > :15:26.as much damage as this has done. It burns like you wouldn't believe,
:15:26. > :15:28.
:15:28. > :15:32.like boiling water on you. You have the rush last 20 minutes, then you
:15:32. > :15:36.are paranoid then for the next hour and a half.
:15:36. > :15:39.She has no idea of the long term damage she's doing to her body.
:15:39. > :15:47.It's just one of those drugs you want to try I suppose, and it's
:15:47. > :15:57.sending them crazy. My ex, he's been in hospital, nearly lost his
:15:57. > :16:02.
:16:03. > :16:09.Rachel has permanently damaged her health through drugs. For years she
:16:09. > :16:14.was addicted to ketamine a powerful sedative. It's taken its toll.
:16:15. > :16:18.My bladder stopped working. It won't work ever again. I've had to
:16:18. > :16:28.have a urinary catheter in for a year and a half. Now I started self
:16:28. > :16:32.
:16:32. > :16:35.catheterising. I won't have use of it again. That's from taking it.
:16:35. > :16:37.After surgery, Rachel turned to mephedrone, thinking it wouldn't do
:16:37. > :16:41.as much harm. But things went from bad to worse.
:16:41. > :16:44.Quite often by here, you wouldn't be on your own. You'd have other
:16:44. > :16:51.people sitting or lying here asleep that had passed out. It's horrible
:16:51. > :16:56.to think drugs landed me here. Mephedrone is linked to depression
:16:56. > :17:03.and other mental health problems. Rachel attempted to take her own
:17:03. > :17:07.life. I woke up in hospital and they said
:17:07. > :17:10.you are lucky to be alive. I had a heart monitor on me and I had to do
:17:10. > :17:16.something about it. They put me into a mental health hospital in
:17:16. > :17:20.Ebbw Vale. I was in there for five months and in that time I realised
:17:20. > :17:22.it was my last chance. She has managed to detox, and now,
:17:22. > :17:30.through support groups, Rachel is using her experiences to help other
:17:30. > :17:38.users come off mephedrone. You see kids 13 or 14 on it. They
:17:38. > :17:41.think it's all right because it was legal at one point. That's still
:17:41. > :17:44.the attitude they have - because it was legal, it's all right. I would
:17:44. > :17:47.be dead by now if I was still on it. I'd be dead.
:17:47. > :17:49.On the streets, police are reporting a rise in violence linked
:17:49. > :17:52.to the drug, especially when it's mixed with alcohol.
:17:52. > :17:55.People I've come across under the influence of this think they are
:17:55. > :17:59.superhuman basically. I've recently been in hospital where it took four
:17:59. > :18:02.of us to hold him down. He needed to be intubated just to have a cat
:18:02. > :18:04.scan on a head injury. People self harming, biting themselves, chewing
:18:04. > :18:09.their own tongues. They have superhuman strength, they want to
:18:09. > :18:12.injure themselves, injure anyone around them.
:18:12. > :18:15.A young woman's been found confused and distressed in the city centre.
:18:15. > :18:21.The police are trying to work out what she's taken.
:18:21. > :18:25.You are not making a lot of sense, are you? You've taken Valium, have
:18:25. > :18:30.you, nothing else? They suspect mephedrone is another
:18:30. > :18:35.cause. Have you got anything that can harm
:18:35. > :18:41.me or you on you? Sharps, blades? A paramedic is called before she's
:18:41. > :18:45.taken to hospital. She was totally was totally under the influence of
:18:45. > :18:54.more than she was maintaining she'd taken. He did ask if she'd taken
:18:54. > :18:57.any mephedrone, she was adamant that she hadn't. Then later, she
:18:57. > :19:04.came randomly out and said maybe it was the meow, then said maybe,
:19:04. > :19:08.maybe. But she was drifting in and out of consciousness then.
:19:08. > :19:11.Wynd Street in Swansea is full of party goers. Most people here just
:19:11. > :19:14.want enjoy the nightlife, but this is becoming a hotspot for crimes
:19:14. > :19:20.linked to mephedrone, which is putting more strain on the police
:19:20. > :19:22.and the NHS. We've seen a number of people who
:19:23. > :19:29.recently ended up staying in hospital under several consultants,
:19:29. > :19:33.having tests and brain scans because of neurological problems.
:19:33. > :19:36.The impact on us has been very severe. These are people who are
:19:36. > :19:39.fit and healthy, who have never come across the radar in terms of
:19:39. > :19:43.drug abuse, drug agencies or NHS suddenly ending up in hospital with
:19:43. > :19:50.major illness and we don't know what the long term effect is going
:19:50. > :19:56.to be. Every week, AE have to deal with
:19:56. > :20:03.users and increasing incidents of violence.
:20:03. > :20:08.Our hospital covers from Carmarthen to Bridgend. In the last six to
:20:08. > :20:11.nine months, the pattern of drug abuse has changed dramatically.
:20:11. > :20:14.People getting very, very violent and involving people who come to
:20:14. > :20:17.the department. These people are suffering neurological problems,
:20:17. > :20:27.chest pain problems and fits, black outs and it's very difficult to
:20:27. > :20:29.
:20:29. > :20:32.One family from Barry knows just how deadly mephedrone can be.
:20:32. > :20:40.Nicola Thomas' brother David collapsed and died from a drug
:20:40. > :20:46.overdose just days after telling her he was using the drug.
:20:46. > :20:50.He told me that he had a few ounces of Brain Base. Me, being naive,
:20:50. > :21:00.didn't know what it was, and then he explained that it was MCat mixed
:21:00. > :21:00.
:21:00. > :21:03.with an amphetamine. David, who was a long term addict,
:21:03. > :21:11.took a cocktail of illegal drugs and was admitted to hospital. He
:21:11. > :21:15.spent two days on a life support machine.
:21:15. > :21:25.We were told he was brain dead. So the machine was going to be
:21:25. > :21:27.
:21:27. > :21:32.switched off. For the sake of drugs and a couple of pound. The dealers,
:21:32. > :21:39.they just don't care. They don't care what they've put us through.
:21:39. > :21:43.They don't care if it's just another life off the street. I
:21:43. > :21:46.think when it comes to MCat, whatever they call it, it should be
:21:46. > :21:52.an automatic prison sentence, and if they don't end up doing it, they
:21:52. > :22:02.ain't gonna stop it. If they don't change it to Class A, there's gonna
:22:02. > :22:04.
:22:04. > :22:11.Michelle is trying to stop others falling into the mephedrone trap.
:22:11. > :22:14.She's helping drug support agencies raise awareness about the risks.
:22:14. > :22:19.The thing that scares me the most is the mental health issues that it
:22:19. > :22:23.has - depression, psychosis, suicidal thoughts. And we don't
:22:23. > :22:28.know what the long term damages are for the mental health issues.
:22:28. > :22:31.While under investigation for fraud, Michelle tried to kill herself.
:22:31. > :22:38.Everything I'd fought for, I'd lost interest in, so I just took an
:22:38. > :22:41.overdose. I was sat in my flat and it turned
:22:42. > :22:51.into a drugs den. But just being sat in my flat, writing notes to my
:22:52. > :22:55.
:22:55. > :22:58.Michelle detoxed and spent eight months in prison. Today she's
:22:58. > :23:01.trying to rebuild her life, but she's living with the legacy of
:23:01. > :23:07.dependency. I torture myself every day about
:23:07. > :23:17.what I've put my family and friends through. I never want to go back to
:23:17. > :23:18.
:23:18. > :23:23.But quitting mephedrone is easier said than done. Doctors are
:23:23. > :23:26.becoming increasingly worried about how it's affecting users.
:23:26. > :23:33.With heroin and cocaine, there's specific physiological effects. We
:23:33. > :23:36.know exactly what we are dealing with. With this drug, the apparent
:23:36. > :23:38.range of mental problems is difficult to monitor. And the other
:23:38. > :23:41.thing is, these drugs may be changing subtly because the people
:23:41. > :23:44.manufacturing it may be changing the chemical process ever so
:23:44. > :23:54.slightly, partly to evade legal detection, but also to keep ahead
:23:54. > :23:54.
:23:54. > :24:01.At the lab where we sent the white powder we bought from China, the
:24:01. > :24:04.test results are in. The dealer said it was mephedrone. What you've
:24:04. > :24:07.effectively bought is even worse. This is unquestionably an illegal
:24:07. > :24:16.drug, it would be classified as a class B schedule 1 substance,
:24:16. > :24:26.according to the Drugs Misuse Act. It was two compounds present,
:24:26. > :24:30.
:24:30. > :24:33.neither of which was mephedrone. We're pretty certain that one of
:24:33. > :24:36.those compounds is methanone, 100 per cent confident of this fact.
:24:36. > :24:38.Another psychoactive. The other compound present we're not
:24:38. > :24:41.absolutely certain as yet, but I think it's probably methedrone.
:24:41. > :24:44.Compounds such as this are very, very powerful chemicals that can
:24:44. > :24:47.have extreme effects on the body. So if we'd taken this substance,
:24:47. > :24:49.the result could have caused heart problems, a trip to A&E or even
:24:49. > :24:51.worse. It could definitely kill. Um, there
:24:51. > :24:55.have been plenty of incidences of deaths due to psychoactive
:24:55. > :24:58.compounds. These are dangerous things to be playing with. It's
:24:58. > :25:08.criminality of one of the worst kinds really because they are
:25:08. > :25:09.
:25:09. > :25:14.gambling with people's lives. It's labelled as L-Luecine, which is
:25:14. > :25:18.used as an additive for protein shakes. Body builders tend to use
:25:18. > :25:26.it. You take grams of the substance that's actually present here and
:25:26. > :25:31.the chances are you'll meet your The drugs we bought online were
:25:31. > :25:39.despatched via an international courier and the Royal Mail. They
:25:39. > :25:42.told us they had no idea what they were carrying. But the fact is this
:25:42. > :25:46.packet managed to get through a variety of sorting centres and UK
:25:46. > :25:50.customs with no problem at all. Royal Mail says it abhors the use
:25:50. > :25:55.of the postal system for illegal drug dealing. It's working closely
:25:55. > :26:01.with the UK Border Agency and the police to combat this problem. In
:26:01. > :26:04.Wales, the fight against the dealers continues.
:26:04. > :26:07.These criminals are here to make money. So we have to stop them.
:26:07. > :26:11.However they are doing it - on the internet, whether they are turning
:26:11. > :26:19.up on street corners or organising it from a distance abroad - we are
:26:19. > :26:23.targeting them and we will get them. Some of those dealing with the
:26:23. > :26:26.casualties of MCat say it's time the drug was re-classified.
:26:27. > :26:34.This drug is worse in ways than some others in terms of the
:26:34. > :26:37.violence of the other drugs like cocaine and heroin. I think all are
:26:37. > :26:39.potentially as bad as each other, but a class B in my opinion
:26:39. > :26:42.seriously under-estimates the impact of this drug.
:26:42. > :26:45.We asked the Home Office for an interview and if there are any
:26:45. > :26:48.plans to re-classify mephedrone. They declined our request and said
:26:48. > :26:51.there are no plans to alter its status, but they hope people will
:26:51. > :27:01.take responsibility for their own actions and free themselves from
:27:01. > :27:03.
:27:03. > :27:10.This user knows his battle with mephedrone isn't over.
:27:10. > :27:15.I just wanna tell kids and families to watch their kids don't get on it.
:27:15. > :27:21.Get off it, don't let them end up like me.
:27:21. > :27:25.For a long time, Rachel didn't think she'd survive.
:27:25. > :27:28.No matter who's telling you there's a light at the end of the tunnel,
:27:28. > :27:35.you think they don't know what you are talking about. But there is,
:27:35. > :27:39.it's just getting the help. I am passionate about helping them. I'm
:27:39. > :27:43.not giving up. Too many gave up on me I don't want to give up on
:27:43. > :27:45.others. Back at the flat raided by police
:27:45. > :27:51.in Ebbw Vale, officers found a small amount of mephedrone, but
:27:51. > :27:58.there was no evidence of dealing. It was the second time in four
:27:58. > :28:01.months that Andrew Pitman had been caught with the drug. He pleaded
:28:01. > :28:09.guilty to possession and was fined �110 and ordered to pay �105 in