Legal high blanket ban to be ignored by youngsters

A recent survey has revealed that many young people aged between 16 and 24 intend to ignore the upcoming blanket ban on legal highs.

The survey was carried out by the youth charity, YMCA, and indicates that the ban will have little effect on tackling the problems caused by legal high drugs. The survey attracted responses from more than 1,000 youngsters and carried out focus groups with 100 more, with more than two thirds saying they will probably continue to use the dangerous substances. Surprisingly, the survey also revealed that 71% of those using legal highs did so after using illegal drugs rather than before.

The chief executive of YMCA England, Denise Hatton, claimed that children need to be educated about drugs to reduce their risk of becoming harmed. She said, “While YMCA welcomes Government action on legal highs, we have uncovered strong evidence to suggest this will not achieve what is necessary to address the impact they are having on many young people’s lives. The ban is likely to have some success in reducing the numbers of young people taking these substances, however, we believe it will to do little to address the hidden, darker side to legal highs.”

The blanket ban on legal highs was supposed to have come into force in April of this year, but was put back following concerns that it was an unenforceable law. It is now set to become law on 26 May 2016.