Charities threaten to evict users of legal highs

Two well-known charities are warning their residents that they may face eviction from their accommodation if they are discovered to be users of legal high drugs.

The charities are the Salvation Army in Stoke and the YMCA in Hanley. The new rule has been brought in following an incident at the Salvation Army’s Vale Street Lifehouse, when seven men required medical attention after taking legal highs. Some of the men involved had to be hospitalised and were taken to the Royal Stoke University Hospital. Staff at the charities have now been trained to help people using their rooms not to take legal highs.

A spokesman for the Salvation Army said: “Our staff have completed training in legal highs and we will be working with our residents to raise awareness of the dangers of these drugs. We already require people moving into Vale Street Lifehouse to sign behaviour contracts agreeing to certain guidelines, and we will be seeking agreement that residents do not take legal highs on our site in future.”

YMCA Campus Operations Manager Chris Deakin has voiced his concerns. He confirmed that YMCA frontline staff are currently being trained to raise awareness of the dangers of legal highs among young people and that a new induction programme involving substance misuse sessions is now part of the terms of acceptance for those seeking accommodation.

Police officers in Hanley have also been working to raise awareness of the dangers by handing out Community Protection Warnings to shops in the area, which force them to remove legal highs from their shelves.