UK Head Shops May Close Following Legal Highs Ban

Synthetic chemical substances that mimic traditional illegal drugs threaten the closure of hundreds of ‘head shops’ across the United Kingdom.

About 450 high-street shops and online sellers of legal highs will face closure or imprisonment up to seven years under the blanket ban on psychoactive substances.

About 40% profit is what head shops gain from £32m yearly profits.

The psychoactive substances bill will receive its second reading on Tuesday. It may ban the trade in legal highs from April the following year.

The bill will exclude alcohol, tobacco, caffeine and other medical and scientific drugs for research given they have the necessary permits.

Meanwhile, hundreds of protesters gather outside parliament to protest while inhaling nitrous oxide as the psychoactive substances bill covers nitrous oxide, which is the second most popular recreational drug in the UK.

The Home Office attributes several hundred deaths related to legal highs or new psychoactive substances. They note that some of the 173 deaths in England, Wales and Scotland in 2013 were linked to legal high consumption.

An official impact assessment said that only 29 of the cases involved legal highs. 

Caring For Public Legal Information In The United Kingdom

The Freedom of Information act enables the sharing of information to the public effectively. This includes case law information. While you might say it is impossible to know all the legislation in force and impossible to know the common law case by case, the ability to procure needed information at the shortest time possible is a legal right.

So how do we preserve this?

1.    Open Democracy and Courts

Public information accessibility through modern technology is neither difficult nor restricted. Today, legal professionals aren’t the only individuals who could interpret legal information but educated individuals as well.

All legal cases must be published on public channels. This includes all new laws and pending cases. All courts must also understand that all cases are publicly accessible for evaluation of different individuals.

2.    Regulators

You might say freedom is not freedom when regulators are present. Regulators are important because they scrutinize the quality of legal records in the country.

As the “gatekeeper”, they have public responsibilities to report any decision for any pending case. It is important that the public and related individuals know about the decisions to ensure the decision is recognised and does not completely fall out of society and the system.

3.    The Four Kinds of Information

Ideally speaking, if the country puts four types of legal information for public access, namely the initiating documents, oral hearing, the judgment and the orders of the court, then legal information procurement would be easy.

For now, the awesome development of the National Archives and the UK’s official printer the HMSO would be a great addition for the successes of the UK’s preservation of public legal information.

Women Abused in Sharia Law: Hasn’t This Been For Too Long Already?

Who can blame the UK if Sharia Law penetrates the legal system? Well, we all have the reason to blame the UK. In its endeavour to appeal to the Muslim community by including certain elements of Sharia law in banking laws for example, the UK is most likely to have an increased Sharia law presence in the next few years.

According to Muslim women, the UK had betrayed them because of the increasing influence of Sharia law, a legal construct they have condemned from their own homeland.

Baroness Caroline Cox of the British House of Lords had released her 40-page report “A Parallel World: Confronting the Abuse of Many Muslim Women in Britain Today” shows the effects of Sharia law in the UK’s Muslim community.

Baroness Cox cites the Arbitration Act of 1996. This allows parties to resolve troubles in British courts using Sharia principles.

Sharia law fuses the concepts of arbitration and mediation, but has the loophole of a “jurisdiction creep,” which allows them to decide cases related to criminal law, including domestic violence and grievous bodily harm as a result.

It is quite ironic that, while Britain is fighting Islamist extremism worldwide, it is using the same law that the terrorists use to downgrade the non-english speaking Muslim women residing in the United Kingdom back to their fears of the law from their homeland.

It is quite ironic, to say the least.

Emergency Law To Save Ireland From Legalising Drugs

Today, Ireland’s Senate will pass an emergency legislation to ban the possession and use of drugs in Ireland, rendered legal due to a dismissal of a legal add-on perceived to violate certain constitutional laws.

The Court of Appeal put forward that there was a loophole in the existing law that deemed ecstasy, crystal meth and ketamine as illegal highs. This loophole do not affect existing laws regarding the supply, possession and the sale of heroin, cannabis and cocaine.

Within hours of the ruling, the Irish Minister for Health Leo Varadkar had called on introducing an emergency bill as soon as possible to reinstate the ban. The bill was to be “short but important”.

The senate is to present the bill to the president to sign immediately for the law to take effect as soon as Thursday.

Until then, possession and use of the drugs will remain legal.

Laws Protecting The Integrity of Consumer Reviews [Infographic]

Scotland’s Assisted Suicide Law is Flawed

A proposed law in Scotland that would allow terminally-ill and incapacitated people to seek help with suicide could violate some European human rights laws according to legal experts.

The proposal will make assisted suicide or euthanasia lawful in certain circumstances.

Margo MacDonald, who was terminally-ill, had first introduced the law before her death in April. It  was a revision of her previous assisted suicide bill that also failed due to lack of Scottish Parliament support.

The Faculty of Advocates said “If Parliament is to pass legislation to protect persons from what would otherwise be the legal consequences of assisting another person to commit suicide, the Faculty considers it is important that such legislation is clear, readily understood, and not just by lawyers, that key terms are well-defined and not open to a variety of interpretations, and that the penalties for breach of the requirements of the legislation are spelled out.

“Otherwise, persons wishing the protection of the legislation will be unclear as to whether their acts are protected and may render themselves liable to prosecution for serious crimes or subsequent review of their conduct in a civil court.

“The Faculty considers that the Bill as currently drafted may not achieve these essential goals.”

The Law Society of Scotland said the Bill could breach the European Convention on Human Rights.

In England and Wales, the Suicide Act 1961 considers assisting someone’s suicide or suicide attempt is an offence. This is also the same in Northern Ireland.

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Somerset Business Tenants Banned From Selling Legal Highs

Taunton Deane Councillors voted against Council business tenants from selling “legal highs” over the counter in Taunton in Somerset.

The law will stop the sale of the substances in any premise rented from the authority as the Tuesday meeting concluded.

Councillor Federica Smith said the sale of legal highs had a “negative impact” on the community. She said the authorities had a duty to remedy the situation.

Council business tenants are now forbidden to sell the substances from any premise owned or leased by the Council. It was agreed that all landlords should be contacted in case tenants prove difficult to stop.

They also approved a number of business proposals designed to tackle anti-social behavor associated with the substances.

Certain substances that allow users to reach “legal highs” are allowed for sale in the United Kingdom. Most of these drugs could be bought online and in some shops.

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