Mumbai: Despite the recent case of a police constable being nabbed by the Maharashtra Police for storing 114 kg of mephedrone (or Meow-Meow) at his Khandala home, the state food and drugs administration (FDA) department still has no intent towards voicing its opinion in favour of a legal ban on the substance.
Though the FDA cannot introduce a ban itself, experts say that the department can, at least, follow up the matter with the Centre to enlist the substance as a ‘drug’, which can come under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act.
If sources are to be believed, former FDA commissioner Mahesh Zagade, now the state transport commissioner, had taken up the issue with the Narcotic Control Bureau. However, following his transfer, little efforts were made by the new FDA chief, Harshadeep Kamble, in the same direction.
With Constable Dharmaraj Kalokhe’s arrest, the demand to enlist mephedrone as a drug is now gaining ground. The Society for Awareness of Civil Rights (SACR), in a letter to the Union Health Minister and the drugs controller general of India, has demanded mephedrone be declared a ‘psychotropic drug’ immediately.
“Mephedrone peddlers can be found in large numbers in Mumbai and Pune. It is also smuggled to Scandinavian countries,” SACR president R.P. Yajurvedi-Rao said, adding Meow-Meow is commonly used by many teens, who get a kick out of it.
