Daz Oaks was a 25-year-old barber who had dabbled with a few legal highs with friends when he first tried monkey dust.
But now, 10 years later, he’s one of hundreds living in Stoke-on-Trent addicted to the the cheap, synthetic and very powerful, drug.
There isn’t a road near the town centre without a dealer or clusters of people lying on the ground, arms covered in welts and crack pipes around their necks unable to move.
In fact, it’s so popular in Stoke, local addicts have even nicknamed it ‘Dust Central’.
Daz told MailOnline he spends most of his time battling voices inside his head, struggling to walk or control aggressive feelings while high on monkey dust.
He said: ‘I take it every day whenever I can get my hand on it. I live in a hostel in Stoke, I call it dust central. I would say I love it but I don’t, it makes me go paranoid. I’ve started thinking I’m being followed everywhere’.
‘Hundreds of people here take the dust, it causes a lot of problems, it’s ruined a lot of lives and a lot of good people.’
Monkey dust or MDPHP is a synthetic cathinone – a lab-made drug, originally £2 a ‘hit’ and is similar to MSMA and amphetamines.
While the drug is relatively unknown across the UK, it is extremely popular in specific drug markets in the West Midlands, specifically Stoke-on-Trent.
Every person in the area that MailOnline approached immediately recognised the highly addictive substance and were either dependent on it themselves or felt it had ‘ruined’ the livelihood of most people living in one of the country’s most deprived areas.
The users gather in broad daylight in conspicuous areas, including the park, outside local cafes and in front of the main shopping centre – young children and teenagers casually walked passed them – unbothered by the regular high street fixtures.
Daz Oaks (pictured) spends most of his time battling voices inside his head, struggling to walk or control aggressive feelings while high on monkey dust
While the drug is relatively unknown across the UK, it is extremely popular in specific drug markets in the West Midlands, specifically Stoke-on-Trent
The users gather in broad daylight in conspicuous areas, including the park, outside local cafes and in front of the main shopping centre
There isn’t a road in the area without a dealer or clusters of people lying on the ground, arms covered in welts and crack pipes around their necks (pictured)
Mr Oaks added: ‘Monkey dust used to be cheaper, but now the cheapest is a tenner.
‘Different dealers do different weights and amounts for certain colours. There’s bright orange, grey, tan, white and there was a blue but that went
‘Orange is the most expensive because it’s the most extreme. It’s super strong. Really intense when you’re on it [and] if you put too much on the pipe it royally f***s you.
‘You can’t function or talk properly. It affects your memory [and] some people start forgetting their own names and their own families long term.’
Some of the most common side effects are intense aggression, states of psychosis, paranoia, and according to Mr Oaks, suicidal thoughts.
Monkey dust can be snorted, smoked or injected – smoking the drug through a pipe seemed to be the most popular option in Stoke, several users wear lanyards with pipes attached round their necks.
Every person in the area that MailOnline approached immediately recognised the highly addictive substance
Mr Oaks was a 25-year-old barber who had dabbled with a few legal highs with friends when he first tried monkey dust
According to locals it is not uncommon to see people with needles hanging out their arms in the doorway of Poundland (pictured)
Monkey dust was originally £2 a ‘hit’ but is now being sold from £10 and up, according to Mr Oaks (pictured, monkey dust seized by Staffordshire Police)
Shopkeepers also explained that some users ‘shoot-up’ in the back streets of the main town centre, Hope Street, and that it’s not uncommon to spot someone passed out with a needle sticking out their arm.
‘It’s a stimulant, it’s really f****** intense, it really kicks the living s*** out of my head,’ Mr Oaks explained. ‘The voices get terrifying, you don’t eat on it, with me it has different reactions.’
‘One pipe lasts about two to nine minutes some people choose to inject it but that is really really dangerous it’s so intense it makes you lose your own breath I’ve only done it twice and never f***ing again f*** me I came very close to jumping in front of a train because of the voices in my head.’
The drug was first identified in Stoke-on-Trent in 2013 and has been an ongoing strain on emergency services across Staffordshire since then.
In a report from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) it was revealed that in 2023 and 2024, officers were called 15 times a day about monkey-dust related incidents.
Recent incidents relating to the drug in Stoke, include a 71-year-old man setting fire to his home while high and a baby dying from exposure to dust.
One of the more common side effects is intense aggression – something Mr Oaks is very familiar with.
In 2016, he was jailed for a year and a half for punching through the window of a Natwest while arguing with himself.
Monkey dust can be snorted, smoked or injected – smoking the drug through a pipe seemed to be the most popular option in Stoke
Mark Walker, (pictured) owner of Maw Fruit and Veg said the drug users are scaring the older generation, forcing them to hide in their homes
The drug was first identified in Stoke-on-Trent in 2013 and has been an ongoing strain on emergency services across Staffordshire since then
He felt so invigorated by the drug – as if he had ‘super strength’ it took 15 police officers and three tasers to detain him.
Mr Oaks added: ‘About 15 is the youngest it’s normal you get some of them skiving school and going down the park when all their mates and having a bag of dust between them all and thinking it’s the best thing since sliced bread
‘I would not recommend it.
‘I started when I was 25. I do see a future and I want to get into rehab but I’m not ready just yet, it’s very difficult especially when it’s to do with dust.
‘I wish if I could turn the clocks back I’d go back in time and I wouldn’t have even put it my mouth. It’s wrecked my life.
‘I would like to go back to being a barber. I would have to leave Stoke. It’s harder to get away from it when you’re in Stoke.
‘Every street has two dealers, it’s f***ing diabolical.’
Monkey dust is currently classified as a Class B drug, meaning you can be sentenced to 14 years in prison for supply.
The Stoke-on-Trent community has been deeply impacted by the drug to the point where people are scared to go into the town centre
Steve Rolles (not pictured) a senior policy analyst at the Transform Drug Policy Foundation explained that monkey dust has become ‘entrenched’ in the city
Staffordshire Police have made targeting drug distribution networks a strong priority to try and curb the usage of monkey dust
The chemical composition of monkey dust is constantly changing but it provides users with feelings of euphoria, making it highly addictive (pictured, a bag of monkey dust)
Several drug activists and researchers have been pushing for the drug to be reclassified as Class A.
Staffordshire commissioner for police, fire and rescue and crime, Ben Adams, said: ‘A key priority for me is preventing the harm that synthetic cathinones cause to our communities.
‘The impact of synthetic cathinones goes far beyond the significant damage to an individual’s health and wellbeing in the absence of any proven treatments.
‘Synthetic cathinones also harm those around them and blight our communities through anti-social behaviour and other issues, which is why I fully supported former MP Jack Brereton’s campaign in 2022 to reclassify them as a Class A drug.’
The Stoke-on-Trent community has been deeply impacted by the drug to the point where people are scared to go into the town centre.
Mark Walker, owner of Maw Fruit and Veg said the drug users are scaring older customers, forcing them to hide in their homes.
He said: ‘They’re aggressive and there have been a couple of brawls, it’s scaring the older generation away.
‘A lot of the older generation, who I sell to, don’t want to come out during the day.
MailOnline visited the dilapidated hotel (pictured) but owners refused to comment
Mitchell Hughes (pictured) the owner of Vellichor Books in Hanley described monkey dust users as ‘zombies’ – referring to the slumped effects of the drug
‘The Crown Hotel is the biggest problem. It’s where they stick all the people (on the dust). I would guess its got one hundred bedrooms plus you see people camping outside.’
MailOnline visited the hotel but owners refused to comment.
‘I feel sorry for them,’ Mr Walker added. ‘Monkey dust is a massive issue in Stoke-on-Trent, someone’s making millions and ruining peoples lives.’
Mr Walker also explained that just last week he found a user asleep in a cardboard box in the alleyway behind his shop alongside human faeces.
Steve Rolles, a senior policy analyst at the Transform Drug Policy Foundation explained that monkey dust has become ‘entrenched’ in the city.
He told MailOnline: ‘Some people talk about this idea of drugs of despair and drugs like MDPHP, these are drugs which people are using to ease their physical or emotional pain in some way to escape from despair and trauma, it’s not a happy story.
‘It’s that combination of the drug is cheap, there is a lot of economic vulnerability and marginalisation and it’s the perfect storm in a city like Stoke where a market for a cheap drug was established and due to economic circumstances it seems to have become entrenched particularly in that city.
‘In this case, it’s essentially to do with social and economic margianlisation combined with the ability to get cheap drugs that meets the needs of that group.’
Several drug activists and researchers have been pushing for the drug to be reclassified as Class A
Shane Bradley, (pictured) who runs a flower stall in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, told MailOnline he sees drug users in the area ‘all day’
Mr Bradley said he saw once user slumped outside Poundland in the town centre (pictured)
From April 2022 to March 2024, as part of the National Drug Strategy to improve drug and alcohol treatment, the council was granted £5.3million from April 2022 to March 2024.
And Staffordshire Police have made targeting drug distribution networks a strong priority to try and curb the usage of monkey dust.
Chief Inspector Dave Barrow, from the Stoke South local policing team, said: ‘Since May 2022, we have been working hard as part of a dedicated operation to take down the main suppliers of this drug and to work closely with partners to support those affected by drug addiction in Stoke-on-Trent.
‘While May 2023 to April 2024 saw the highest volume of incidents reported involving synthetic cathinones since our operation was launched, we saw a significant decrease by around 180 incidents in September 2024, demonstrating the results from our work to support the vulnerable and to target those selling them.
‘All of these combined efforts resulted in the lowest volume of recorded incidents linked to synthetic cathinones in December 2024 since we launched our dedicated operation.
‘We’ve closed a number of problem properties linked to synthetic cathinones across the city and have carried out targeted enforcement against significant nominals, including one man who was jailed in November 2024 after he was caught with £20,000-worth of synthetic cathinones and cocaine.
‘Two people were also charged in March this year after around £8,000-worth of synthetic cathinones was found.’
The chemical composition of monkey dust is constantly changing but it provides users with feelings of euphoria, making it highly addictive.
Frequent use of the drug can cause memory loss, kidney damage, heart attacks, and seizures
Mitchell Hughes the owner of Vellichor Books in Hanley described monkey dust users as ‘zombies’ – referring to the slumped effects of the drug.
While Shane Bradley, who runs a flower stall in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, told MailOnline he sees drug users in the area ‘all day’.
‘They’re taking it in doorways, I saw a lad in the Poundland doorway with a needle stuck in his leg in day time’, he exclaimed.
‘Monkey dust is a big big one, they do it on a crackpipe in the doorways, they do it day time and night time.’
Mr Bradley pointed out several public spaces where monkey dust users take the drug without any regard for the police, giving the area the tile of Britain’s ‘monkey dust capital’.
Frequent use of the drug can cause memory loss, kidney damage, heart attacks, and seizures.
Vicki Nash, head of service delivery for CDAS (Stoke-on-Trent’s Community Drug and Alcohol Service), explained: ‘These synthetic drugs, sometimes called new or novel psychoactive substances, are designed to mimic the effects of other controlled substances.
‘They can make people feel euphoric, alert, and talkative, but also anxious, paranoid or suicidal.
‘Hundreds’ live in Stoke-on-Trent spending most of their time battling voices inside his head, struggling to walk or control aggressive feelings while high on monkey dust
Vicki Nash, head of service delivery for CDAS, said monkey dust can make people feel ‘euphoric, alert, and talkative, but also anxious, paranoid or suicidal’
‘However, the chemical composition of these drugs varies, which means the behaviours associated with them change regularly.
‘We deliver a range of treatment and support for people struggling with synthetic cathinones.
‘Including: a specialist recovery worker who visits clients where they are, whether that’s in their homes or on the streets; one to one and group sessions with recovery workers; and residential rehabilitation referrals.’
A spokesperson for the Home Office said: ‘We understand the harms of synthetic drugs and the devastating impact they have on lives.
‘That’s why as part of our mission to make the nation’s streets safer we will work across health, policing and wider public services to drive down drug use and stop those who profit from its supply.’
