Wirral health chiefs welcome blanket ban on sale of 'legal highs'

The Psychoactive Substances Bill prohibits and disrupts the production, distribution, sale and supply of new psychoactive substances in the UK. They are often sold online or on the high street.

The ban extends to the sale of nitrous oxide for human use – known as 'laughing gas' or 'hippy crack' – although its legitimate sale will not be affected.

Substances such as alcohol, tobacco, caffeine, food and medical products will be excluded from the scope of the offence, as will controlled drugs which are already covered by older legislation.

In 2013, there were 120 deaths involving NPS in England, Scotland and Wales.

Fiona Johnstone, Wirral’s director of public health, told the Globe: “We welcome any appropriate moves designed to address the dangerous reality of these drugs.

"The term 'legal highs' gives the impression they are harmless, which is not the case, and does not reflect the increasing number of deaths in the UK.”

Under the Bill:

• It will be an offence to produce, supply, offer to supply, possess with intent to supply, import or export psychoactive substances. The maximum sentence will be seven years in prison.
• The whole of the United Kingdom will be affected by the ban and l aw enforcement powers will be extended to all NPS supply from UK websites, so they could be shut down.
• The Home Secretary will have the power to vary the list of exemptions as appropriate in future.
• Authorities will be given powers to seize and destroy substances and search people, premises and cars.
• Civil sanctions will be available to police and local authorities to adopt a "proportionate response" to the supply of NPSs in some cases.

The legislation will capture substances that, although not new, are psychoactive, have been used as intoxicants for many years and are not harm free, such as 'poppers' or salvia, which is marketed as a "herbal high".

Minister of state for policing, crime, criminal justice and victims, Mike Penning, said: "Young people who take these substances are taking exceptional risks with their health and those who profit from their sale have a complete disregard for the potential consequences.

"That’s why we are targeting the suppliers.

"The landmark bill will fundamentally change the way we tackle new psychoactive substances - and put an end to the game of cat and mouse in which new drugs appear on the market more quickly than Government can identify and ban them."

"The blanket ban will give police and other law enforcement agencies greater powers to tackle the reckless trade in psychoactive substances, instead of having to take a substance-by-substance approach."

The Government has already taken a range of action against so-called ‘legal highs’, including banning more than 500 new drugs and creating the Forensic Early Warning System to detect substances not seen before in the UK.

There is also ongoing work to enhance the response to prevention, treatment and information sharing.

Last year the Government established an expert panel on New Psychoactive Substances to look at ways of further enhancing the enforcement response.

Having carefully considered the evidence Ministers have decided to act on the panel’s recommendation to legislative.

The National Crime Agency will continue working with the online industry and international partners to close websites selling controlled NPS in the UK and tackle the associated organised crime.

National Police Chiefs’ Council Lead for New Psychoactive Substances, Commander Simon Bray said:

“When people buy dangerous drugs they will generally have little idea how potent the drug is or what it may contain.

"Sadly we have seen too many people losing their lives or becoming seriously ill after taking so-called legal highs” under the impression that they are safe.

"A blanket ban on new psychoactive substances (NPS) will make it simpler for law enforcement to deal with those drugs which are potentially unsafe but which may not yet be controlled."