EYE-CATCHING: Many are trying the drug due to its cute name and colorful packaging, which made it young people's drug of choice

Mephedrone, also referred to as "meow meow" (喵喵), has been turning up more frequently in test results of young drug users since 2019 and is now the leading cause of deaths from overdose involving synthetic or recreational drugs in Taiwan, a report by the High Prosecutors' Office and narcotics experts showed.

The drug caused 205 deaths from 2021 to June last year, the report said, adding that the deceased were on average aged 30.

Prosecutors and experts said that meow meow has since 2019 been the most commonly found narcotic in people tested for illegal drugs, adding that it was responsible for about 60 deaths annually over the past decade.

It has a strong psychoactive and stimulating effect, and induces hallucinations and amplified sensations, but it could also lead to sudden cardiac arrest and death, the report said.

There is a worrying trend in its use by young people, the report quoted prosecutors as saying.

Its cute name and fancy, colorful packaging, such as "rainbow cigarettes" or narcotic coffee powders, has lured more people into trying it and made it the "getting high" drug of choice among young people, they said.

Meow meow is a psychoactive stimulant of the central nervous system. It is chemically similar to cathinone, which comes from khat leaves, which are traditionally sold as a chewable recreational stimulant in East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.

It causes mild loss of appetite and euphoria, and could be used to reduce fatigue and hunger.

Meow meow's powder form could be taken orally or dissolved into a beverage, and is sometimes consumed with ketamine, experts said, adding that it is highly addictive.

Mephedrone was prohibited and controlled in 2010, after European countries and US authorities recognized its dangerous and addictive nature, the report said.

Taiwanese authorities banned and listed mephedrone as a Category 3 narcotic after a 17-year-old Taiwanese girl died after consuming it, the report said.

Test results show that cathinone and its related compounds are the main forms of new synthetic and psychoactive drugs in Taiwan, the report said, adding that use of the drugs grew significantly from 3,129 cases in 2013 to about 30,500 in 2020, with meow meow taking the No. 1 spot.

During a crackdown on illegal drugs in Taiwan in 2020, meow meow's precursor, 2-bromo-4'-methylpropiophenone, which is also a derivative of cathinone, was the most-seized drug, the report said.

'Meow meow' use rising, No. 1 cause of overdose deaths - Taipei Times