Hooked 15: Melanotan 2

Hooked episode 15 about a drug that has been appearing more and more in UK needle programmes, Melanotan 2. We discuss what this complex synthetic analogue does, where it comes from, and what some of the risks might be from its use.

With this drug appearing in increasing amounts in the UK and worldwide, and with its use being largely by drug naive users we felt this was an important subject to cover on Hooked.

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Shownotes

I think my favourite quote from this show is Allison when she talks about asking the young woman:

"So what was it for you that made it all right to become an injecting drug user to get a tan?"

Martin Chandler from John Moores University in Liverpool has been looking at Melanotan 2 use in some detail. In 2008 he gave this presentation to the National Conference on Injecting Drug Use (NCIDU)

We mentioned the ACMDs recent Hepatitis report as a reason NSPs need to keep supplying clean works to PIED users.