Is the cannibal drug (Methylenedioxypyrovalerone) linked to biting attacks?

Question

The consumption of this drug is popularly connected to the possibility of attacking other people via biting.

Some sources that reference the former are:

Cannibal Drug: MDPV Effects And Similarities To Flakka

In this source it clearly states that no drug is going to turn anyone into a "zombie" or "cannibal" but what I'm asking is that if the relationship between that drug consumption and attacking other people by biting them is higher than it should be even if we take into account other drugs that may make the person who has consumed them more aggressive than it normally is.

Other source that mention this drug and its biting effect is the following:

‘Cannibal Drug’ Being Sold In Spanish Party Destinations

I can understand that some substances may induce aggressiveness (even an extreme one) on a person, but I find hard to believe that it would make the person to attack other people via biting, after all, unless in certain circumstances, biting is far from being the most effective way a person could exert physical violence (it's not like we are dogs or, in general, animals whose bite is likely to do way bigger damage than a bite from a person).

So is the consumption of this drug related with the possibility of attacking other people via biting?

Answer 1

No, there is no documented link between synthetic cathinones and biting attacks. This idea is based on sloppy and sensationalistic journalism as well as a likely fabrication by police. The supposed case that kicked off this claim was a bizarre assault in Miami in 2012, in which a man named Rudy Eugene bit another man's face, blinding him in both eyes. The police shot and killed Eugene. In a likely attempt to deflect attention from the police shooting and its racial angle, Armando Aguilar, the president of the police union, provided the media with an entirely speculative story that Eugene carried out the attack because he had been using "bath salts." Toxicology tests found only THC in Eugene's body. The media mostly ran with the story at the time, but later and more careful journalism was done by Jacob Sullum in Reason and Frank Owen in Playboy.

This is just one more example of a long-term, recurring folk belief that certain drugs cause people to gain unnatural strength, turn into zombies, or go insane with violence. There is no drug that actually does anything like this.