Mumbai: Maharashtra government on Thursday told the Bombay High Court that the Centre had accepted its recommendation to include mephedrone in the list of prohibited drugs under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.
Mephedrone, a narcotic drug which is also called M-Cat or `meow meow' in the party circuit, is banned in 53 countries. Now its possession or use is an offence in India too.
The state recommended a ban on the drug following a public interest litigation filed by Dr Yusuf Merchant, president, Drug Abuse Information Rehabilitation and Research Centre.
Government counsel Hiten Venegaonkar on Thursday told the division bench headed by Chief Justice Mohit Shah that the Centre had issued a government resolution putting the drug in the prohibited list and Parliament had approved it. The court then disposed of the PIL.
Dr Merchant had said that mephedrone, manufactured in India and China, is marketed as a plant feed or bath salts on the internet but is being widely used a narcotic drug. Israel was the first to ban it in 2008, followed by the UK in 2010 and the US in 2011, said the PIL.
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