Councils call for law change regarding legal highs

Councils have called upon the government to change the law regarding the sale of legal highs in UK shops.

The Local Government Association (LGA) wants the UK government to introduce legislation similar to that in Ireland, where all brain-altering drugs are deemed illegal; however, some exemptions ‒ such as alcohol ‒ are made. In contrast, the UK operates by banning drugs on a case-by-case basis.

The call for action comes as statistics show that more people are dying from using legal highs than class A drugs such as heroin. The popularity of legal highs has resulted in the death toll more than doubling over the last five years.

The LGA claims that when a legal high drug is banned, producers simply alter one of the constituent ingredients and sell the product, perfectly legally, under a new name.

The chairman of the LGA’s safer and stronger communities board, Councillor Ann Lucas, said: “This is all about tackling the sellers. Legal high shops are becoming endemic to our high streets, which is why we are calling on the government to introduce robust and vigorous new laws to tackle them. The sooner we put these so-called headshops out of business for good, the better. A key priority is educating and informing younger people about the dangers and risks of these drugs, and councils play a pivotal role in this.”

The drug treatment charity Addaction says that it is difficult to control the use of legal highs, as they are predominantly traded online.