See below for more articles on mephedrone. Even though I was born in a country where we execute drug dealers even I can appreciate the irony, and yes I am aware these drugs are currently legal so it doesn't quite match the history of the British empire selling illegal opium to Qing Dynasty China.Chinese To Produce New 'Legal Highs'
6:14pm UK, Monday March 29, 2010
Holly Williams, Sky News correspondent
A Sky News probe into "legal highs" has uncovered the chain of supply from Chinese chemical factories to British dealers - and discovered plans to outsmart the UK's plans to ban mephedrone.
Much of the investigation was shot with a hidden camera. Posing as customers, Sky's film crew was able to buy legal highs in shops, markets and from online dealers.
Media attention has focused on mephedrone after the drug was linked to several deaths in recent weeks.
However, Sky's investigation discovered an entire new generation of chemical highs, including substances such as methylone, butylone and MDPV. All of them mimic the effects of other, better known drugs such as cocaine and ecstasy.
They are freely available with no legal consequences, though to avoid prosecution most dealers describe them as "plant food" or label them "not for human consumption".
Toxicologist Dr John Ramsey says we are witnessing a revolution in the drug trade. "We're seeing 10 or 11 new compounds every year coming out now," he said.
"While they're legal they're really quite attractive for young people. They can experiment without the risk of getting a criminal record. The problem is, we don't know what the risks are. They've never been tested anywhere for safety."
Dr Ramsey says it is understood that most dealers are being supplied by Chinese chemical companies.
"The Chinese chemical industry seems to provide anything at a price," he said.
"So if somebody here orders something they'll either synthesize it or have it in stock, and they'll send it, regardless of what it's to be used for."
A quick search online reveals dozens of Chinese companies ready to sell mephedrone, methylone, MDPV and other drugs in bulk. They can be ordered at the click of a mouse and sent by courier to Britain.
Posing as a potential customer, Sky contacted a Shanghai-based company named Blinkchem.
A Miss Chen answered the phone and said that the company makes both mephedrone and methylone "in batches - 100 kilograms, 200 kilograms, 50 kilograms, whatever the customer wants".
Miss Chen went on to reveal that Blinkchem already has five British customers, "two of them big ones".
"One of them orders 50 to 100 kilograms a week," she said. "The other one orders 50 kilograms of mephedrone a month, and 40 kilograms of methylone."
Sky's investigation came as the British Government announced that mephedrone will be banned and made into a Class B drug within weeks.
Asked whether this would cause problems for Blinkchem, Miss Chen said the company was already well prepared.
"We're working on five or six new legal products," she confided.
"Most of them come from our British customers. They told us how to make the new ones."
The Home Secretary announced the decision to ban mephedrone, also known as M-Cat or Meow Meow, after receiving advice from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs.
But in a blow to the Government, a key adviser to ministers has quit her post on the ACMD.
Dr Polly Taylor is the sixth member of the council to resign since the sacking of the chairman, Professor David Nutt, last year.
Her departure could derail plans to pass a ban through Parliament before the expected start of the General Election campaign.
Hey, maybe the archetype of a Chinese person with a giant grudge on their shoulders just waiting to get revenge on the West turned out to be true (sarcasm).
. Plus it appears legal (for now, anyway), which I suppose is a step or two up from what we Brits did in China 
Despite myself I cracked up just thinking of the irony.