Personal Impact of Monkey Dust Addiction
A recovering monkey dust addict advocating for the drug to be reclassified as a Class A substance has revealed how the drug caused her to become "violent and suicidal."
Shannon Cowan, 29, from Biddulph, Staffordshire, shared that she initially used cocaine before turning to monkey dust as she struggled with past traumas, including the loss of a family member to addiction.
She described the psychoactive effects of monkey dust as severe, stating it led her to smash windows and contemplate suicide.
Speaking to BBC Radio Stoke as part of her campaign to have monkey dust upgraded from Class B status, which she believes could provide better support options, Cowan explained:
"It turned me into somebody I wasn't."
Monkey dust is a synthetic stimulant designed to imitate the effects of amphetamines or cocaine.
Cowan said she was "living a life she did not want to live" and was struggling with her mental health prior to using cocaine.
She became involved with individuals using monkey dust towards the end of 2022 and began using the drug herself shortly thereafter.
She described the drug as highly addictive, stating:
"The first time I took it, I thought 'wow this is great'. It was an instant high, I thought it was amazing.
It wasn't long before I started feeling paranoid and I wasn't having a great time. I didn't really like the drug that much myself but I was struggling with my own mental health.
After that first time, I found it pretty hard to then get away from it."
Cowan noted that monkey dust could provoke violent behavior, which she witnessed in someone close to her and later experienced herself.
She recounted:
"He fractured my eye socket in two places. On one occasion he knocked my tooth out.
If you meet him sober, he is a nice person and not aggressive but, under the influence of monkey dust, the violence was very high."
Regarding her own conduct, Cowan said:
"On one occasion I went out and smashed somebody's car window – I put a brick through it three times - and I smashed a house window."
She explained that initially it was difficult to avoid the drug as people were often at her home either using it or offering it to her.
"It felt like there was no escape,"she said.
"By the end of it, I did leave my house one night to try and end my life because I felt like that was the only way out."
Cowan managed to stop using monkey dust when she moved out of her home for five months to stay with family. She reports being clean for 14 months.
She described quitting as the most challenging experience she has faced and acknowledged moments when she feared relapse.
However, she reflected:
"When I sit and think about that lifestyle I was trapped in, and how much I prayed to get out of it, I'd never go back. I prefer this life – this is the life."
Campaigning for Reclassification and Support
Cowan is currently collaborating with a drug support service and assisting other recovering addicts in rebuilding their lives.
She has launched a campaign urging the government to reclassify monkey dust from a Class B to a Class A drug. Her online petition has gathered nearly 400 signatures.
While acknowledging that reclassification may not eliminate the sale or use of monkey dust, she hopes it will increase available support for users.
She stated:
"I have smoked Class A drugs and monkey dust is a lot worse."
"It's not an escape,"she added.
"You think drugs are an escape but that drug isn't an escape. It'll just leave you with even more trauma than before, like it did with me."
The Home Office expressed understanding of the "devastating impact" of synthetic drugs and confirmed efforts to "drive down drug use" and disrupt those profiting from it.
It stated it would respond "soon" to a report from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs scheduled for February 2025, which detailed the harmful effects of synthetic cathinones such as monkey dust.
For those affected by issues raised in this story, information and support are available through the BBC's Action Line.
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