Methylenedioxypyrovalerone (abbreviated MDPV, and also called monkey dust[3]) is a stimulant of the cathinone class that acts as a norepinephrine–dopamine reuptake inhibitor (NDRI).

In the US, products containing MDPV and labeled as bath salts were sold as recreational drugs in gas stations, similar to the marketing for Spice and K2 as incense, until it was banned in 2011.

[9] It has been shown to produce robust reinforcing effects and compulsive self-administration in rats, though this had already been provisionally established by a number of documented cases of misuse and addiction in humans before the animal tests were carried out.

[10][11] MDPV is the 3,4-methylenedioxy ring-substituted analog of the compound pyrovalerone, developed in the 1960s, which has been used for the treatment of chronic fatigue and as an anorectic, but caused problems of abuse and dependence.

It is supposedly active at 3–5 mg, with typical doses ranging between 5–20 mg.[13] When assayed in mice, repeated exposure to MDPV causes not only an anxiogenic effect but also increased aggressive behaviour, a feature that has already been observed in humans.

Blood or plasma MDPV concentrations are expected to be in a range of 10–50 μg/L in persons using the drug recreationally, >50 μg/L in intoxicated patients, and >300 μg/L in victims of acute overdose.

[23] In 2010, a 33-year-old Swedish man was sentenced to six years in prison by an appellate court, Hovrätt, for possession of 250 grams of MDPV that had been acquired prior to criminalization.

The Director of Public Prosecutions for Western Australia announced that anyone intending to sell or supply MDPV faces a maximum $100,000 fine or 25 years in jail.

[25] Canadian Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq announced on June 5, 2012, that MDPV would be listed on Schedule I of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, which was realized on September 26, 2012.

[26] MDPV is specifically listed as a controlled substance in Finland (listed appendix IV substance as of June 28, 2010),[27] In the UK, following the ACMD's report on substituted cathinone derivatives,[14] MDPV is a Class B drug under The Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (Amendment) Order 2010, making it illegal to sell, buy, or possess without a license.

[36] On October 17, 2011, an Ohio law banning synthetic drugs took effect barring selling and/or possession of "any material, compound, mixture, or preparation that contains any quantity of the following substances having a stimulant effect on the central nervous system, including their salts, isomers, and salts of isomers", listing ephedrine and pyrovalerone.

[38] In April 2011, two weeks after being reported missing, two men in northwestern Pennsylvania were found dead in a remote location on government land.

[41] A total of 107 non-fatal intoxications and 99 analytically confirmed deaths related to MDPV between September 2009 and August 2013 were reported by nine European countries.

It is suggested that the use of beta blockers to treat hypertension in these patients can cause an unopposed peripheral alpha-adrenergic effect with a dangerous paradoxical rise in blood pressure.