Massive Rise In Mcat Seizures In Barnsley

28 February 2013, 00:00 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50

Stats released exclusively to Capital show South Yorkshire police have seized 258 Kilos of Mcat in the last two years and 161 of those were in Barnsley.

Officers say they have regular users in the town who are as young as 14.

They say Mcat is now not seen as just a club drug but many hard drug users are buying it as a cheaper replacement for heroin and injecting it. Some people are using up to 50 times a day.

In 2012 there were about 170 seizures in South Yorkshire, 99 were in Barnsley.

There were 320 arrests in the whole of South Yorkshire and 200 of those were in Barnsley.

Police in the town have told capital that is partly because they are doing so much to crack down on the problem.

Officers say they are now asking every person who is arrested on suspicion of any crime if they are using Mcat or have any information about the drug to try and crack down on the problem.

Capital has been speaking to Valerie Townend from Longwood. Her son is clean now, but tried to kill himself twice when he was on mephodrone. 

Hear Valerie's story here.Valerie Townend on her Mcat nightmare