Clwyd West MP, David Jones, has written to a Canadian financial services company urging it to stop processing transactions for the purchase of the “legal-high” drug, mephedrone, over the internet.
The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) is currently considering whether mephedrone, which is closely related in chemical composition to ecstasy, should be categorised as a controlled drug. Professor Les Iversen, chairman of the ACMD, yesterday gave a strong indication in evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee that the drug is likely to be banned.
David Jones said:
“The deaths of a number of young people in the United Kingdom have been linked to the use of mephedrone. It is a dangerous drug and I very much hope that it will be banned.
“However, at the moment mephedrone is readily available over the internet. Almost all the websites selling the drug process the financial transactions through a Canadian company, AlertPay.
“I have consequently written to AlertPay today urging it to cease processing transactions linked to the sale of mephedrone in the United Kingdom.
“I hope that AlertPay, as a responsible company, will take that action and I look forward to hearing from them.”
The text of David Jones’ letter to AlertPay is show below:
As you may be aware, the British Advisory Council on Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) is considering whether or not the drug mephedrone, currently legal in the United Kingdom, should be scheduled. Yesterday, Professor Les Iversen, the chairman of ACMD said that he believed mephedrone is harmful and hinted that it should be categorised as a Class B controlled drug.
You may be aware, also, that the deaths of a number of young people in the United Kingdom have been linked to use of the drug.
Mephedrone is readily available over the internet in the United Kingdom and by far the majority of the websites selling the drug use AlertPay to process the financial transaction.
Given the harm that mephedrone is causing to young people in the United Kingdom, I am writing to you to suggest that AlertPay, as a responsible company, should cease to process financial transactions for companies that are selling the drug.
I would be most grateful to hear from you with your response as a matter of priority.
