that makes compounds illegal if they are analogs of drugs already listed. in australia during 2010, it was not specifically listed as prohibited, but the australian federal police stated it is an analogue to methcathinone and therefore illegal. it is now listed as a schedule 9 prohibited substance in australia under the poisons standard (october 2015). a schedule 9 substance is a substance which may be abused or misused, the manufacture, possession, sale or use of which should be prohibited by law except when required for medical or scientific research, or for analytical, teaching or training purposes with approval of commonwealth and/or state or territory health authorities. in february 2010, 22 men were arrested in connection with importing mephedrone. by january 2011, every state in australia, other than victoria, had listed it as a controlled drug. in new zealand, it is not included in the misuse of drugs act 1975, but is illegal, as it is similar to controlled substances. in canada, mephedrone is not explicitly listed in any schedule of the controlled drugs and substances act, but "amphetamines, their salts, derivatives, isomers and analogues and salts of derivatives, isomers and analogues" are included in section 19 of schedule i of the act. cathinone and methcathinone are listed in separate sections of schedule iii, while diethylpropion and pyrovalerone (also cathinones), are listed in separate sections of schedule iv, each without language to capture analogues, isomers, etc. mephedrone is considered a controlled substance by health canada. in a report by the canadian medical association in 2010, one lawyer was quoted as suggesting that mephedrone was less popular in canada than in the u.k. because "there’s a provision in the substance act that says analogues of certain drugs and other similar drugs may be illegal too,"; on the other hand, the assistant director of the centre for addictions research of british columbia suggested there was a lack of "clear illegality". there have been several media reports of the canadian police seizing mephedrone, but no reports of any successful prosecution of a controlled drugs and substances act offence implicating mephedrone. mephedrone is also currently scheduled in the united states as of 2011. the drug enforcement administration (dea) states, as an analogue of methcathinone, possession of mephedrone can be controlled by the federal analog act, but according to the los angeles times, this only applies if it is sold for human consumption. several cities and states, such as new york state, have passed legislation to specifically list mephedrone as illegal, but in most areas it remained legal, so long as it is not sold for human consumption, so retailers described it as 'bath salts'. in september 2011, the dea began using its emergency scheduling authority to temporarily control mephedrone. except as authorised by law, this action made possessing and selling mephedrone or the products that contain it illegal in the us for at least one year while the dea and the united states department of health and human services conduct further study. control of these compounds became permanent on 9 july 2012, via passage of the synthetic drug abuse prevention act of 2012. usage a survey conducted in late 2009 by the national addiction centre (uk) found 41.3% of readers of mixmag had used mephedrone in the last month, making it the fourth-most popular drug amongst clubbers. of those, two-thirds snorted the drug and the average dosage per session was 0.9 g; the length of sessions increased as the dosage increased. users who snorted the drug reported using more per session than those who took it orally (0.97 g compared to 0.74 g) and also reported using it more often (five days per month compared to three days per month). an irish study of people on a methadone treatment program for heroin addicts found 29 of 209 patients tested positive for mephedrone usage. harm assessment professor david nutt, former chair of the advisory council on the misuse of drugs (acmd) in the uk has said, "people are better off taking ecstasy or amphetamines than those we know nothing about" and "who knows what's in when you buy it? we don't have a testing system. it could be very dangerous, we just don't know. these chemicals have never been put into animals, let alone humans." les king, a former member of the acmd, has stated mephedrone appears to be less potent than amphetamine and ecstasy, but that any benefit associated with this could be negated by users taking larger amounts. he also told the bbc, "all we can say is is probably as harmful as ecstasy and amphetamines and wait until we have some better scientific evidence to support that."