9:30am Tuesday 30th March 2010
Exclusive By Emily-Ann Elliott
Two 15-year-old pupils have been suspended from school after taking the legal high “meow”.
The girls, from Davison High School in Worthing, admitted using the substance during the school day after they were questioned by staff about their behaviour.
Yesterday the Government’s drug advisory coun¬ cil recommended that meow also known as mephedrone should be classified as a class B drug.
Home Secretary Alan Johnson said the substance, which has been linked to the death of a Hove man, will be banned within weeks.
Pupils at Davison High have now been warned about the dangers of meow as the school’s head teacher raised concerns about the “ease of availability” of the substance.
Headteacher Della West said the incident happened last week and the girls have been suspended for a fixed amount of time, which has not been revealed.
She added the school had reissued warnings about its use to pupils.
She told The Argus: "Two students have been excluded for a period of time from Davison High School following reports of their use of mephedrone. Following concerns about their behaviour, the students admitted their use of the substance during the school day.
"The school's response takes this admission into account, in line with the school's behaviour policy. Davison is working closely with these students and their families following this incident."
She added: "We are very concerned about the ease of availability of mephedrone, or meow meow, to young people and are sharing any information received on sources of the substance with the local police."
The revelation that pupils had been taking mephedrone emerged a week after police and local agencies in Worthing set up a local action team to deal with the rise in its use.
A Sussex Police spokesman said Inspector Allan Lowe, of the Worthing neighbourhood policing team, called a meeting to discuss the best way to deal with the increasing problem locally.
Peter Griffiths, West Sussex County Council's cabinet member for education and schools, said there was an urgent need for national guidance on mephedrone.
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