A breakthrough in the mephedrone thing? For now at least?

Police have taken £13,000 from a man who apparently sells mephedrone over the Internet.

The £13k is the money they believe he's pocketed from sales - presumably, in some cases at least, to kids.

The confiscation is temporary and whether or not he loses his money will be decided in court later.

They didn't use the Misuse of Drugs Act to take this money. They couldn't because, at the time of writing at least, it's not an illegal substance.

Ah, but that's where the Medicines Act 1968 comes in.

It's an offence to sell medicines, chemicals etc unless you've got all the qualifications and authorisations.

That's where the police hope this man is going to come unstuck.

A welfare worker in Leicester pointed this out to me weeks ago - possession of M-Cat won't get you into legal trouble, but selling or distributing it surely will under existing law.

There's a hearing to take place in due course when this will be decided. So, we shall see.

In the meantime, we're all waiting to hear whether M-Cat is to become a banned substance under the Misuse of Drugs Act. It seems inevitable doesn't it?

If it does - and if the anecdotal reports of this drug having such a tight grip on our young are true - then it will be interesting to see the results.

How many kids will end up with criminal records?

Again, we will wait and see.