Recovering addict calls monkey dust ‘worse than Class A’

A recovering drug addict is campaigning to raise awareness of the dangers of ‘monkey dust’.

Shannon Cowan told the BBC how she got addicted to the synthetic drug, becoming paranoid, violent and suicidal. After moving out of a home with other drug users, she has now been in recovery for 14 months.

The 29-year-old explained that monkey dust “turned me into somebody I wasn’t”, saying its classification should be upgraded from Class B to A to highlight its effects.

Addictive

Speaking of how addictive the drug is, Shannon reflected that after the first time she took it: “I found it pretty hard to then get away from it.”

“It wasn’t long before I started feeling paranoid and I wasn’t having a great time. I didn’t really like the drug that much myself but I was struggling with my own mental health.”

Shannon found that monkey dust only escalated her problems: “You think drugs are an escape but that drug isn’t an escape. It’ll just leave you with even more trauma than before, like it did with me.”

Violent

Another side effect she highlighted was an uncharacteristic increase in violent behaviour: “On one occasion I went out and smashed somebody’s car window – I put a brick through it three times – and I smashed a house window.”

She recalled how a friend, who “is a nice person and not aggressive” when sober, became violent under the influence of the drug: “He fractured my eye socket in two places. On one occasion he knocked my tooth out.”

Shannon called monkey dust “worse than a Class A drug”.

Devastating impact

The Home Office has recognised the “devastating impact” of drugs such as monkey dust, and reiterated its commitment to driving down drug use and ending profit from the drug trade.

The Government is set to respond to the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs’ report on synthetic cathinones such as monkey dust, which stated that in light of the “effects of these substances on local communities, as well as their association with suspected drug-related deaths in the UK, it is appropriate to consider the arguments in favour of for and against changing classification to Class A for selected examples”.

But the report’s conclusion did not recommend a change of classification, instead calling for more health and social care for addicts, and “increased monitoring, surveillance and research funding” into the drugs.