Mephedrone and the Rat King

The largest drug marketplace in Russia claims to sponsor underground research into a little-studied but highly popular drug: mephedrone. The test subjects? Rats, volunteers, and even the doctors themselves.

Text: Andrey Kagansky
Illustrations: Mike Che

Underground Chemists Experiment with Mephedrone on Rats, Volunteers, and Themselves

“After 50 milligrams, nothing happened. I thought I had wasted my time, but after 30 minutes I snorted another 100 milligrams. <…> After each line, I felt a rush of energy and then a fantastic sense of well-being,” reads the first description of mephedrone synthesis, posted on the English-language forum The Hive on April 5, 2003, by user Kinetic. The drug was already known to academic science in the 20th century, but Kinetic was the first to try it recreationally.

Mephedrone—also known as “bath salts”—has since survived legal bans worldwide and become especially popular on Russian drug markets. It is a euphoriant and empathogen (meaning it induces feelings of joy and a strong desire to socialize), sold as a white powder or crystals. It can be snorted, dissolved in water, or injected intravenously. The price starts at about 1,000 rubles per gram.

Sixteen years after Kinetic’s post, on Russia’s largest online drug market, Hydra, experimental chemists still hide behind Latin-letter nicknames and discuss mephedrone. Now, however, they are conducting underground lab tests of the drug, sponsored by drug dealers under the pretense of harm reduction.

Human Experiments

In the summer of 2018, at a free appointment with a private addiction specialist, six people agreed to a deal: in exchange for participating in a study (as test subjects), they would receive a rehab course and hush money. The goal: to find out how mephedrone’s effects on the body change depending on impurities and precursors that end up in the drug due to poor synthesis, or if a dealer tries to bulk up the powder with additives like chalk, powdered sugar, or caffeine.

“The clinic administration wasn’t exactly thrilled, but they were satisfied with Hydra’s payments for the treatment and the extra hassle and risks,” says the experiment’s organizer, known as Lynx25. The drug cartel’s operations are built on anonymity—no one knows each other’s real names or faces, only nicknames.

During the experiment, volunteers were isolated from each other and other patients. Every three days, they were given 150 milligrams of mephedrone of varying purity, orally. The experiment lasted 12 weeks. Before each stage, participants underwent detox. In a chat, Lynx25 shares details and proof: photos of toxicology reports on the volunteers’ urine, meticulously filed in patient folders with names covered for privacy.

At the same time, mephedrone was administered to rats to see how different impurities concentrate in the brain cortex.

An excerpt from the study was published directly on the Hydra forum. According to the text, pure mephedrone “does not exacerbate chronic illnesses or cause new ones. However, contaminated substances, especially with precursors, cause serious pathological changes even in healthy bodies.” Impurities also reduce the feeling of euphoria and increase the stimulant effect. The mechanism of “dirty” mephedrone is compared to the toxic effects of popular 1990s inhalant glues.

The research was funded by Hydra’s management, but Lynx25 does not disclose the amount. On the underground market, he works as an analytical chemist, conducting anonymous test purchases and checking drug purity with a chromatograph. Such equipment starts at half a million rubles, but Hydra staff use devices at their main jobs—in labs or research institutes.

Six months after the experiment, Lynx25 published a guide to cleaner mephedrone synthesis: a list of solvents with correct reaction times and temperatures.

“Everyone I Know Is Switching to Mephedrone”

The person overseeing the chemists and research on Hydra goes by Satoshi Nakamoto—the name of Bitcoin’s alleged creator. “This drug is really unstudied, unlike amphetamine, LSD, MDMA, or cocaine,” Satoshi writes. Four out of six Hydra studies focus on mephedrone, each with detailed equipment lists and analysis data.

Unlike amphetamine and MDMA, mephedrone was not synthesized as a medicine in the 20th century. Interest in it began with underground labs in the 2000s, so it is indeed less studied by science. For example, little is known about its long-term effects. During and after use, mephedrone seems much safer than other illegal stimulants, but it is extremely addictive.

“At first, after a line, you’re sociable, euphoric, you can have sex on it. Only your jaw clenches,” says Nikita, a 24-year-old user who lives off his mother. He started snorting, now he injects: “Unlike speed or MDMA, there’s no comedown from mephedrone. That’s the trick—it seems like the perfect recreational drug. Then, without it, you just feel sick.” He adds, “Sometimes it seems like everyone I know is switching to mephedrone.”

It’s impossible to know exactly how popular mephedrone is in Russia—there are no objective statistics. Satoshi claims its share is almost equal to another popular stimulant, amphetamine, citing Hydra’s internal stats but refusing to show or specify numbers.

A 2017 Lenta.ru study found a similar ratio. Journalists downloaded listings from the Russian Anonymous Marketplace (once Russia’s top drug market, later replaced by Hydra). They counted 665 daily mephedrone doses for sale (for comparison: 614 amphetamine, 2,369 marijuana).

Satoshi says mephedrone on the Russian market is usually pure. “Right now, it’s the easiest substance to synthesize, reagents are freely available, and production is simple. With amphetamine, it’s the opposite—over the last 10 years, the government has gradually banned the necessary precursors. Most anonymous test purchases now target amphetamine, since it’s a problem product.”

“It has a very distinctive smell—chemical, a bit salty, like cat urine. You can’t mistake it. During marathons (multi-day binges), your sweat starts to smell like mephedrone,” Nikita says in another voice message.

“Plant Food”

On Hydra’s forum, user Der Medicus describes his lab experiment: he gave mephedrone to 40 Wistar rats (the most common lab rodents), some orally with a probe, others by intraperitoneal injection. “Because of mephedrone’s strong smell, it was risky, but only during the injections,” he writes.

The research includes tables of analysis details, oscillograms, and photos of the test rats.

Under mephedrone, rats became more restless and less motivated—they checked their burrows less often. In the early 2000s, Israeli chemists considered using mephedrone as a pesticide: intoxicated insects became easier prey for predators (hence one of mephedrone’s first English code names: “plant food”). Der Medicus took blood from the rats and injected formalin to measure paw swelling. The conclusion: mephedrone suppresses immunity and stresses the cardiovascular system.

A year ago, the platform introduced telemedicine consultations for drug users. Der Medicus works as an online doctor for Hydra. In the research discussion, he advises a user on drug therapy to reduce mephedrone’s harm to blood vessels.

Satoshi explains that these studies are mainly for Hydra’s online consultants. He says drug dealers indirectly profit from all Hydra’s research and social projects: “By raising the culture of use, we influence many factors. At the very least, there are fewer overdoses and less marginalization of users. Overall, it’s good for users and the market.”

I try to find another reason—maybe it’s part of a big PR campaign to make Hydra seem user-friendly? But the project’s social media almost disproves this: Hydra’s Telegram channel regularly posts news and texts about drug culture, but nothing about research or test purchases. Only the telemedicine service is mentioned. Satoshi’s research projects, funded by Hydra, are not publicized—you have to dig deep into the forum to find them.

“Could someone from Hydra’s admin team (or Satoshi and the doctors) be interested in promoting this drug?” I ask a dealer who co-owns a Hydra shop.
“Of course, some Hydra admins have their own shops, everyone suspects it, but you can’t prove anything. You buy a tank of mephedrone and need to sell it, so you promote it. Users have prejudices against mephedrone. But I haven’t heard of any mephedrone conspiracies.”

“Self-Experimentation Only Brings Us Closer to the User”

“I get that it’s your job, but be careful. No, we’re not afraid. We just don’t want anyone to tarnish our service with subjective arguments about conflicts of interest, made up in someone’s head,” writes Dr. Fox—another medical consultant on the site (also a hospital surgeon).

Today, Dr. Fox injected himself with a gram of mephedrone: during our chat, he admits he can’t focus his eyes—a common effect. A gram would be enough for a party of several people.

In October, he began a grand experiment to assess the effects of long-term mephedrone use. First round: a gram of pure mephedrone daily for a month. Second round: a three-month marathon with breaks of several days. In the chat, he writes: “Yes, I shoot up for science. Not for money. Not for mephedrone marketing. Or anything else.”

Dr. Fox shares his impressions: at high doses and with constant use, people start to hallucinate, but with effort, you can manage the mind games. He claims he didn’t register any serious consequences from such a marathon.

“Aren’t you worried that self-experimentation could interfere with his consulting work?” I ask Satoshi.
“His self-experimentation only brings him closer to the user and helps him understand the substance’s effects. When assembling a team of addiction specialists, I wanted everyone to have experience with psychoactive substances. I don’t understand how an addiction doctor without drug experience can treat addiction. It’s like teaching someone to drive without ever driving yourself.”

In another chat, Lynx25 continues to share unpublished data from his research, now showing psychiatric reports and patient histories that didn’t make it into the forum summary. In one patient’s file, instead of a real biography, there’s a copied excerpt from a psychiatry textbook.