“Punishments range from a prohibition notice, which is a formal warning, to seven years in prison”.
Advertisement
New laws against producing, supplying and importing “legal highs” are set to come into effect across the country tomorrow (Thursday).
Gwent Police has worked with local authorities to educate users and potential users about the new law and the risks of taking unknown substances.
Dr Alan Billings the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner who has been leading on a campaign to raise awareness to the dangers of legal highs said: “In recent years the availability of legal highs or psychoactive substances has caused growing concern”.
“We are not going to moralise about things that are not offences, bearing in mind it is not an offence to possess these or to use them”.
The intention is to solve the UK’s problems with “legal highs” – chemical products not covered by existing legislation that are causing some health and social problems. As public servants we are here to protect vulnerable people from coming to harm.
The Psychoactive Substances Act will provide a blanket ban on the production, supply and importation of new psychoactive substances (NPS).
But today the government’s delayed Psychoactive Substances Act comes into force, introducing powers over what consumers can consume that are as radical and far-reaching as any such legislation ever.
Nationally, deaths involving legal highs are said to only form around 6% of total drug fatalities.
Commander Bray of the National Police Chiefs Council added: “Clearly, there will be some movement onto the dark net”.
He said a survey of legal high users showed “the average age was surprisingly high – 40 plus – and some of them were definitely professionals” including accountants and City workers. Shop owners and other suppliers have been given time to adapt to the new laws and stop trading the drugs. It will also make it easier to tackle so called “legal highs’ which may contain mixtures including already illegal drugs”.
Officers have been given powers to stop and search people, vehicles and vessels, enter and search premises in accordance with a warrant, and to seize and destroy psychoactive substances.
The term “legal highs” led some people to believe that they were safe, but nothing could be further from the truth.
Poppers, or alkyl nitrites, are not included in the ban.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “Psychoactive substances ruin lives and we owe it to all those who have lost loved ones to do everything we can to eradicate this harmful trade”.
Advertisement
He added he hoped the service and the authorities will see a decline in the use of the substances and a fall in drug-related hospital admissions, with the fact the substances were developed quickly making it hard to overdoses and addiction than it is for traditional drugs.
