Legal highs seized in Yorkshire as they become class A drugs
Police in West Yorkshire have been able to seize more than 150 packets of legal high drugs from shops in the county as a result of the substances now being classified as class A drugs.
On 7th January 2015 an amendment was made to the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 stipulating that LSD-related compounds and tryptamines are categorised as class A drugs, similar to ecstasy, cocaine, cannabis and amphetamines. Following this amendment West Yorkshire Police, acting under Operation Nightshot, visited 12 different shops in Wakefield, Leeds and Bradford on 10th January. Whilst no arrests were made, the police seized 155 packets of so-called legal highs, with staff at the shops informed about the new legislation.
The coordinator of Operation Nightshot, Detective Constable Jamie Hudson, said: “Within days of these substances being made illegal we have attended at shops known to sell these kind of items and ensured that any products potentially containing these banned chemicals have been removed from sale with the public’s protection in mind.”
DC Hudson also warned that any person trading in legal high drugs or other related drug paraphernalia needed to make sure that they were up to date with current legislation, stating that ignorance of the law was not a valid defence. Several of the ingredients used in legal highs are now categorised as class A drugs and have been linked to multiple fatalities throughout the country.