Methylone

History

The drug methylone first made an appearance in 2004 under the name ‘Explosion’ in a number of smart shops in the Netherlands. The product was advertised as a ‘room odorizer’ containing 5ml of the liquid drug.

When the new product was first introduced, there was much confusion over what each bottle contained. It was not until January 2005 that the contents of ‘explosion’ was analysed. In March 2005 there was only one manufacturer and therefore this one sample analysis came to represent all ‘Explosion’ bottles, despite any further quantitative and confirmative data.

The new drug gained a great amount of popularity after the Dutch radio presenter Giel Beelen took the drug during a live show.