A GIRLS’ school is “waging war” on mephedrone after pupils began using the legal stimulant linked to five deaths.

Glenmoor discovered “half a dozen” girls taking the cocaine-style drug and has asked police to speak to the pupils.

Roger Allen, headmaster of the Bournemouth school, said: “I don’t believe this is a specific problem to Glenmoor. This is a problem for society.

“We are waging war on it and do not tolerate any drugs.

“Mephedrone ought to be banned. I am angry and frustrated it is being supplied to schoolchildren.”

Experts say abuse of mephedrone is increasing in Dorset since it was first spotted around six months ago.

Meow meow factfile

MEPHEDRONE, also referred to as ‘Meow Meow’ and ‘M-Cat’, came to prominence last week after two men aged 18 and 19 died in Scunthorpe.

The drug is legal so police cannot arrest people for using it.

They have warned it can be lethal when combined with alcohol or other drugs.

A Dorset Police spokesman said: “Where children or young people are at risk of significant harm they can be taken to a place of safety and in conjunction with social services appropriate action can get taken with the child’s safety the priority.”

On Monday, Lois Waters, 24, was found dead in North Yorkshire after taking the drug.

Detective Chief Inspector Nigel Costello, who is leading the enquiry into her death, compared the spread of mephedrone to that of ecstasy during the clubbing boom of the late 1980s.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has promised “immediate action”, depending on the advice from an expert drug panel. The panel has indicated they would recommend making it a Class B drug, on a par with amphetamines or cannabis.

Professor David Nutt, the government’s former drugs tsar, said it would be safer to give out the drug legally in small amounts than ban it.

He said yesterday that criminal gangs would be “rubbing their hands” at the prospect of the drug being outlawed.

It has been reported that Jordan Kiltie, 19, from Ayr, and a 46-year-old man from Hove, Sussex, died after using it.

Dorset Police said they are working with “several schools” including Glenmoor.

Mark McCall, 42, said his 13-year-old daughter is a pupil who admitted taking the drug for three months.

“She has changed from a lovely girl to someone who doesn’t care about anything,” he said.

“I have probably cried more in the last four or five days than in my entire life.”

Mr McCall said police told him they would take sniffer dogs into the school and carry out drug swabs.

His daughter suffers mood swings, nosebleeds and stomach cramps.

When he called in experts on drug abuse, she told them: “I just want to get wrecked.”

She went missing for three days and he found her at another youth’s house in Moordown.

She was with a group of young people who all appeared high on the drug.

They behaved like “caged animals” when he tried to take his daughter home with the help of two police officers, he said.

“They had no respect for the police. It was disgraceful and embarrassing to watch,” said Mr McCall.

“It was devastating to see her. She looked worn out.”

He said most of the young people involved in that incident were not Glenmoor pupils.

However his own enquiries suggested another girl in the school had been selling the drug.

Glenmoor School in Winton is a 750-pupil specialist school in maths and computing.

Mr Allen said decisions on discipline were “ongoing” but added: “There will be permanent exclusions as a result of this.”

Mindy Crespi, chief executive of the Parkstone-based Essential Drug and Alcohol Advice Service (EDAS), said: “We have seen a rise in referral for mephonedone use in the last two or three months.

“We have seen a number of referrals from the 12, 13 and 14 age range.

“We don’t want to see mephedrone use leading on to Class A drug use.

“The other problem is that it is known as a plant food. If they can’t get held of mephedrone, we don’t want people taking potentially lethal doses of plant food.”

She added: “It’s a stimulant and affects the central nervous system. People get agitated, irritable and they have mood swings. They can get panic attacks.”

Mr McCall hopes his daughter’s case will act as a wake-up call to other parents.

He has set up a Facebook site called Save Our Kids and hopes to leaflet parents outside several schools, “I don’t want to see my child in a box,” said McCall. “I don’t to see anyone’s child in a box. And that’s what’s going to happen.”

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