Portsmouth hoping to ban legal highs from its streets

Portsmouth is hoping to become only the second UK city to ban the use of legal highs from its streets.

The banning plans, which come after Lincoln successfully imposed similar legislation, have the backing of borough councils, the police in Hampshire and the crime commissioner. If passed, the legislation will mean that the council will have the power to seize legal highs from people who are using them on Portsmouth’s streets. The legislation will be in the form of a public space protection order and it is hoped that its powers will be extended with the imposition of fines.

Alistair Thompson, a Tory councillor in the area, and Councillor Steve Weymss are responsible for moving the proposed legislation forward. Mr Thompson said: “We have got to get tough on legal highs because they are killing people. People experimenting with life are also experimenting with death. We need to stop this deadly trade killing young people.”

Simon Hayes, Hampshire’s police crime commissioner, gave his backing to the move, stating that the Portsmouth authorities needed action to be taken to tackle the growing threat that legal high drugs represented.

Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act demonstrate that the number of reported incidents in Hampshire where legal highs are present have increased dramatically; meanwhile, Hampshire police claim that a number of anti-social behaviour episodes have also been linked to the use of legal highs.