A synthetic chemical known as MDAI has already emerged as a successor to the drug mephedrone, which was banned in Britain this weekend.
Analysts at the Psychonaut Research Project, an EU-funded organisation based at King's College London, which monitors the internet for new trends in drug abuse, said it had identified the substance as the likeliest contender to replace the former "legal high". Co-principal investigator Paolo Deluca said: "Websites are already starting to promote MDAI and this could become the next popular product."
The drug replicates many of the effects of MDMA, or ecstasy, and was developed as an antidepressant by a team at Purdue University in the US during the 1990s. Experts believe its chemical blueprint could soon be mass-produced by the Chinese manufacturers who flooded the UK with mephedrone. Last year mephedrone became the fourth-most popular drug in Britain behind cannabis, cocaine, and ecstasy.
The Observer
The Independent on Sunday