Remember when a can of Coke used to cost R2, and now you’re basically busting out a note to get your fix – oh hang on, we’re talking about something else here.

Apparently Methcathinone, known as ‘cat’ or ‘bathtub speed’, is becoming hugely popular down in our neck of the woods. So much so, in fact, that VICE saw fit to devote an entire article to the growing problem.

Let’s start off with the basics then:

South African rehabilitation centers are reporting that its use is growing out of the typical 17-25 age bracket and starting to span the generations.

Methcathinone’s popularity is in part due to its ease of manufacture. Amateur chemistry is often tricky — synthesizing MDMA takes degree-level precision, while synthesizing speed requires specialized equipment and the sort of molecules that governments normally put on watchlists.

Cat is far simpler to make, requiring ephedrine, (easily bought in cold and medications), acetone (or paint solvent from a local hardware store), and sulfuric acid. In terms of equipment, the process requires a strainer, then a microwave or a hair-dryer, and a fridge.

At anywhere between 20 and 60 South African rand per wrap…this is partly why cat is now chasing at the heels of methamphetamine to be South Africa’s sixth-largest drug of abuse.

A little birdy tells me that people are paying upwards of R500 a gram for cocaine these days, which probably makes that cat look all the more enticing if that’s your thing.

Apparently the drug is most popular in Jozi – come on guys, with that strong Vaal rand I thought you only treated yourselves to the expensive stuff?

A word to the wise from Sandra Pretorius, director of the government rehabilitation clinic SANCA Horizon:

“In my estimation, I would say it is often as difficult to get off as crack,” said Pretorius. “The difficult part with cat is that one of the side-effects is to dissociate the user from reality and what’s around them. When they’re getting off it, their emotions become very volatile and they’re all over the place. So they tend to come to us as in-patients, and then they tend to need a range of medications, such as benzodiapenes, in order to get off, so getting the right treatment becomes very expensive.”

You always pay in the end, I guess that’s the moral of the story.

Read that VICE article in full HERE.

[source:vice]

[imagesource:here]