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Methcathinone is a highly addictive illegal drug with the street name "CAT." It is usually homemade from ingredients, including dangerous acids, obtained with little difficulty in most communities.

Users are drawn to Cat because it produces a burst of energy and a feeling of invincibility, accompanied by a state of well-being and euphoria. They pay for their high, however, in the crash that inevitably follows.

The first instance of the illegal manufacture of Cat in the United States is believed to have occurred in Michigan in the late 1980s or early 1990s.

Effects

Damage to the brain and body can be devastating, especially when users progress to the point where they binge on the drug for several days. While in this state, paranoia engulfs them, and they suffer hallucinations and experience excruciating nervousness and anxiety. Appetite decreases or disappears entirely during the binge, often leading to long-term weight loss. The body becomes dehydrated, and an array of other unpleasant symptoms are experienced:

• Pounding heart
• Headaches, stomachaches
• Shakes

When the binge is over, usually because the supply of methcathinone has been exhausted, depression clamps down. Users become irritable and argumentative. They drive associates away as they cope with acute social withdrawal.

When sleep finally comes, it may last 24 hours. Rest does not always restore a sense of well-being, however. Users may be drained of energy for as long as several weeks.

How It is Used

Cat is typically snorted like cocaine, although injection by needle is preferred by some. It is also possible to take Cat orally, by mixing it with a beverage such as coffee or soda drinks.

Ingredients

The recipe for methcathinone includes some relatively benign ingredients but also the following:

• Sodium dichromate, commonly used to refine petroleum
  
• Sulfuric acid, usually in the form of battery acid
  
• Sodium hydroxide, obtainable over the counter as lye-based granular drain cleaners
  
• Toluene, a paint thinner
  
• Muriatic acid, used by masons to scrub dried mortar off the face of bricks

Risk to Children

While Cat appeals mainly to those in their 20s and 30s, there have been users as young as 15. Because the drug is relatively inexpensive, law enforcement authorities are concerned that it may find a market among even younger children.

Environmental/Effects

Illicit production of methcathinone produces a carcinogenic toxic waste as a byproduct. Although producers of the drug typically make it for use in a close-to- home market, they show little concern for the pollution they spread.

The toxic waste left after the finished product emerges is often dumped in waterways, contaminating fish, well water and wildlife.

If instead it is flushed down the drain, it contaminates septic systems. If simply dumped on fields or vacant land, it contaminates acreage used for crops or grazing, or it taints land upon which homeowners may build.

There is no safe way to dispose of the toxic waste except through legitimate toxic waste disposal facilities.

Penalties

People who manufacture methcathinone or assist others in doing so, perhaps by serving as go-betweens to buy ingredients, are being prosecuted under a number of federal statutes. Manufacturing or possession with intent to distribute, for instance, is a violation of Section 841(a)(1) of Title 21 of the United States Code and is punishable by a prison term of up to 20 years and a fine of up to $1 million.

Credits:

Provided by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

Printing and distribution of You Can't Trust CAT is funded by the Elks Drug Awareness Program, which is sponsored by the Elks National Foundation.