Sensationalized UK overdoses not caused by Miaow Miaow after all

A landmark case that pushed through laws banning the drug mephedrone - popularly known as 'Miaow Miaow' - has come under strong criticism. A toxicology report of the two teenagers thought to have died from the drug showed neither had actually taken it.

"Legal high kills two teens," cried the Daily Express earlier this year. There followed a steady stream of stories in the UK media of the dangers of the then little known "legal high".

The government subsequently rushed through an emergency ban on the drug and related compounds that became law in early April. Although implicated in 27 deaths, a report by the International Centre for Drug Policy at University College London found it to be a contributing factor in just one.