New legal designer drug Flakka is cheaper than a Big Mac, but a whole load more dangerous. Here’s six things you need to know...
1. Flakka is the street name for Alpha-PVP, a powerful synthetic stimulant.
2. A crystalline rock, it can enter your bloodstream pretty much any way fathomable: snorted, injected, eaten, rubbed in you eyeballs, swallowed or vaporised in an e-cigarette.
3. Similar to crystal meth, the effects can last three to four hours, but in some cases it can stick around for days.
4. People have been going seriously batty on it: a woman in South Florida jumped off a bridge; one man ripped off his clothes, screaming violently; and another was arrested after trying to have sex with a tree. It can make you feel like you possess superhuman strength.
5. This effect is known as ‘excited delirium’, marked by spikes in body temperature (105-6C), sweating, paranoia and hallucination.
6. It’s mainly used in the US, but websites are now selling it for £19 a gram in the UK.
