According to anti-drug organisations, the Psychoactive
Bill is not enough to serve as a 'panacea' to finally cap legal highs.
According to anti-drug organisations the legal highs bill will not protect
young people.
The blanket ban on substances is not enough to end the
danger of legal highs in the United
Kingdom because there is a lack of education.
The law is still going through parliament and it will
prohibit every kind of legal high in the country. Distributors, producers, suppliers
and small sellers can face a maximum of seven years for selling legal highs.
The Mentor, the Centre for Social Justice and Angelus
Foundation said the legislative approach is not a sure fire solution to end the
problem of legal highs. According to statistics, about 50% of young individuals
have died from legal highs sold in 'head shops'.
Individual substances were banned at first. But manufacturers
used different chemical formulas to place the drug outside the ban.
Despite the ban on legal highs, deemed harmless
substances, alcohol, caffeine and tobacco will be given special exemptions.
Anti-drug groups encourage the government to include
an educational awareness campaign alongside the ban. They argue the legal
change is just a blunt instrument and can only work if the consuming public
itself is briefed accordingly.
