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Blanket ban on NPS has driven drugs underground

Last year’s ban on the drugs formerly known as legal highs has resulted in zero prosecutions or cautions issued in three-quarters of the police force areas in Wales.

The blanket ban on new psychoactive substances (NPS) came into force in May 2016, making it illegal to manufacture, distribute, sell or supply the substances. Since enforcement of the ban, only South Wales Police can claim to have records of cases relating to the drugs. The North Wales, Gwent, and Dyfed-Powys Police did not give any cautions nor make prosecutions relating to NPS in the first six months of the ban. The police forces also state that no NPS businesses were closed during this timeframe. This seems to support drug charity claims that the ban has driven the drugs underground.

Ifor Glyn, the regional director of the drug charity, Drugaid Cymru, claimed that the ban had been a knee-jerk reaction to the problem of the then-called legal highs, and was not backed up by any long-term plan. He said, “From our point of view, the change in law doesn’t really make any difference to be honest. People are still using these drugs, definitely. Probably all that has happened is it’s gone from being sold in shops to being pushed into the black market or illegally on the internet. These new psychoactive substances come with a lot of concern and worry and a lot of bad side effects.”

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