The government of Western Australia has included Methylenedioxypyrovalerone or MDPV to its list of dangerous drugs, following the lead of two earlier states that banned the synthetic substance earlier.

WA Minister for Mental Health Helen Morton announced on Thursday the state's prohibition of MDPV starting Friday this week following two deaths that authorities in Victoria and South Australia have earlier reported.

The incidents also prompted authorities of the two states to outlaw the inflow of MDPV, which police officials said were usually manufactured and sourced from the United Kingdom and other European countries.

In 2011 alone, WA police officials have recorded at least 25 drug busts involving MDPV.

It appears too that MDPV, described by experts as a pseudo-designer drug like ecstasy, has successfully lured Aussie users mainly due to its cheaper street pricing.

International narcotics experts tagged the substance as a viable alternative for the more pricey cocaine and noted that its use and spread started in 2004.

Health experts, however, warned that MDPV has strong psychoactive effects that can easily lead to severe cases of anxiety and paranoia.

Deaths immediately caused by acute cardiovascular and central nervous system toxicity have been attributed to the abuse of MDPV, WA health officials said.

MDPV has been deployed in Australian streets taking various forms, according to Chem Centre toxicologist Robert Hansson, and in most cases people were made to believe that they were buying amphetamines, more widely known as crack cocaine.

"It has a myriad of effects which are very powerful and very potent ... It's a stimulant, it raises, blood pressure, body temperature, produces euphoria," Hansson told the WA Today.

Morton noted too that the decision of the WA government to legally ban the MDPV came after its earlier move in 2010 that disallowed the importation of the drug in Australia.

WA's action comes in advance with the decision of the Therapeutic Goods Administration to officially ban the substance by May this year.

"We can't wait until then and we are taking action in WA now, to hopefully avoid the harm that some people in the eastern states have already suffered because of this dangerous drug," Morton explained as reported by The Australian.

By Friday, she added that persons caught in possession of MDPV face fines of up to $2000 or a two-year jail term, which she noted were punishments reserved for users.

On the other hand, sellers face the spectre of 25 years behind bars and pay up fines of up to $100,000, Morton said.