Gov't urged to ban new designer drugs

With a flood of new "designer" drugs pouring in daily from Poland, authorities are watching helplessly as users walk into shops and emerge with armloads of dangerous - and legal - narcotics that deliver highs comparable to those of marijuana, cocaine and crystal meth.

Drug enforcement leaders say that for the past four months a slew of synthetic drugs has spread across the country from the north Moravian region near the Polish border and, in the process, created a nightmare for those whose job it is to keep harmful substances off the streets.

"It's mad," said Michal Hammer, spokesman for the National Drug Squad (NPC). "The principle is simple: They're creating new substances, which are more or less a molecule away from an illegal substance, and it becomes a different substance that is completely legal. These kids have no clue what they are using, and they become guinea pigs."

Hammer is referring to a group of designer drugs that are sold in shiny, brightly colored wrappers resembling Kool-Aid packets and are marketed as "souvenirs" under names such as "Good Shit," "Magic Apple," "Vanilla Sky" and "Monkees Go Bananas."

Although the drugs originate from China, their emergence in the Czech Republic via Polish drug dealers has narcotics experts lobbying Parliament to quickly amend its 13-year-old law on addictive drugs to ban 15 new substances that are currently being sold legally, including in several shops on Wenceslas Square.

The list includes several types of "cannabinoids," or synthetic forms of marijuana and hashish, as well as mephedrone - often sold under the street name "Meow Meow," which is described as a cross between the party drug Ecstasy and methamphetamines.

"There has not been a study carried out that would be able to measure their effect on a scientific basis," said former Prague Mayor and current Deputy Pavel Bém, who is also a psychiatrist specializing in drug addiction. "But these drugs have quickly gained popularity and are very risky. It is necessary to approve [the amendment] as soon as possible."

But some experts fear it may not be soon enough.

National Anti-Drug Coordinator Jindřich Vobořil was among the first to call on Parliament to amend the current law to include the new substances. And though he got the attention of Prime Minister Petr Nečas, who has urged Parliament to act quickly, the Chamber of Deputies likely won't vote on the changes until its next session in March.

"The members of Parliament are trying to act quickly, but the system doesn't move fast enough," Vobořil said. "We first got information on these drugs in September. We drafted the list of substances by the end of November. We got the list to Parliament in December. They won't vote until March and the law won't become active until May.

"That's not fast enough."

Hammer expressed even more frustration as his department's attempts to amend legislation to other drugs have been dying on the vine for years.

"To illustrate how quickly the government reacts, we submitted material for legislative changes for [the party drug] Ecstasy in 2006 to the Health Ministry," he said. "Nothing has happened yet. There's not much reason for optimism."

Health Minister Leoš Heger's office did not respond to requests for comment by press time.

Viktor Mravčík, head of the Czech Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction, said that matters of public health shouldn't have to wait to clear normal levels of bureaucracy.

"Once the substances emerge on the market and are deemed dangerous, there needs to be a process in place that can address them in a timely manner," he said. "We can't only think about the substances themselves. We have to think about our policies and control mechanisms."

Mravčík and Vobořil are both consulting with Nečas and other leaders to come up with different and more efficient procedures by which new harmful drugs can be made illegal, but Vobořil said the problem cannot be solved with legislation alone as there are international factors to take into consideration that are beyond the reach of Czech authorities - specifically, how to stop the substances from leaving China.

The drugs first reached the Czech Republic after Polish authorities shut down more than 800 shops selling the drugs that had arrived from China as various types of legal products. Mephedrone, for instance, is manufactured in Chinese factories as plant fertilizer. Some cannibinoids are created at similar manufacturing plants and certified by the Chinese government as incense.

According to Vobořil, the substances are manufactured with the Chinese government's knowledge, consent and - possibly -- even its money.

"They know exactly what they're making," he said. "The fertilizer, for instance, is a smokescreen. Someone is being very clever. We are just cowards not to say to China, 'This is wrong, and we need to come up with an international decision on what to do about it.' But people are afraid because China is so powerful. So we do nothing, and they continue to sell tons of the stuff."

Nečas' office did not immediately respond to requests for comment on whether or not the government has addressed the drug issue with China.

One step behind

The Polish government was successful in quickly halting the sale of the new synthetics by passing a law making it illegal to merely "promote" drug abuse by selling any kind of substance that is proven to deliver psychotropic effects - regardless of whether the substance is legal. Hammer said the quick action by Polish authorities was successful in stopping the legal sale of the drugs but added that several shop owners have already sued the government for acting outside the law by shutting them down.

"That kind of charge is hard to prove," he said. "The substances need to be banned."

But once they're banned, Vobořil said, there will always be more drugs waiting to take their place on the store shelves. The United Kingdom, he said, has already identified 40 more new synthetic drugs that have similar effects. In fact, the only reported Czech death caused by abusing the new synthetic drugs came at the hands of a substance that isn't even on the proposed list of substances being considered by Parliament.

"If you can make one drug, you can make another drug," Vobořil said. "There are already newer versions being made in China. By the time you go through all the proper channels [to get a drug banned], there are 20 new versions on the market.

"It's a never-ending story."

- Klára Jiřičná contributed to this report.

Jack Buehrer can be reached at
jbuehrer@praguepost.com