The True Horror Behind Britain’s ‘Monkey Dust’ Drug Scare Story – By Max Daly (VICE) / June 8, 2023
A synthetic white powder called monkey dust is a big problem in one UK city. But lurid headlines about glass-eating zombies hide a much more shocking story of government neglect.
STOKE-ON-TRENT, England – A strange affliction has fallen upon this proud city. Famous for being the historic heartland of Britain’s once world-leading pottery industry, and for much more recently spawning singer Robbie Williams, Stoke-on-Trent has fallen on harder times. And, seemingly inexplicably, it’s become the global capital of a potent drug known as “monkey dust”.
According to some politicians and media outlets, monkey dust turns users into super-strength “zombies” with the power to chew through plate glass windows and jump from tall buildings unscathed.
The cheap off-white powder, containing lab-made stimulants called cathinones, achieved new prominence in May when Jack Brereton, Conservative MP for Stoke-on-Trent South, managed to get the government to order an investigation into whether synthetic cathinones including monkey dust should be upgraded from a Class B drug to a Class A drug. This would put it alongside heroin and cocaine in Britain’s drug harm classification system.
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