Campaign against “legal highs”
The Petition of residents of Kilmarnock and Loudoun,
Declares that the Petitioners believe that the sale of substances commonly referred to as “legal highs” constitutes a clear and present danger to public health, and in particular to the health of young people; further that the Petitioners believe that, at present, there is a severe lack of information available to the public regarding the potential physical and psychological risks associated with the human consumption of such substances; and further that the risks associated with the human consumption of such substances varies depending on the consumer, but are increased if the substance is consumed in conjunction with alcohol or other psychoactive drugs.
The Petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Government to consider whether certain substances commonly referred to as “legal highs” should be reclassified in order to enhance public awareness of the risks associated with their consumption and further requests that the House urges the Government to consider whether greater support should be provided to individuals and families affected by the use of such substances.
And the Petitioners remain, etc.—[Presented by Cathy Jamieson, Official Report, 9 December 2014; Vol. 589, c. 839.]
[P001405]
Observations from the Secretary of State for the Home Department:
The UK Government share the public’s concern about the risks associated with new psychoactive substances, or “legal highs” as they are unhelpfully known. We condemn the irresponsible trade in substances which place the long-term health and lives of vulnerable members of our society, especially young people, at serious risk.
It is a priority for the Government to further reduce this threat and protect the British public from the related harms. Together with the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, we continue to update the UK’s legislative response with the support of the Home Office’s forensic early warning system, which we created to monitor the emergence of new psychoactive substances, and international early warning systems. The Government have introduced innovative legislation to ban over 500 new psychoactive substances under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, supported law enforcement to make full use of available powers under drugs, medicines and consumer protection to disrupt supply in local communities and online, and led the international response to this global threat.
We recognise that there is no room for complacency and that more needs to be done to protect the public. For these reasons, last year the Government appointed an independent expert panel to undertake a review of available evidence on this issue and the impact of the actions that we are taking, and to advise us on ways to strengthen our legislative response and enhance the wider approaches that complement it.
Following the completion of the review, on 30 October 2014 the Government announced a range of actions against new psychoactive substances in response to the panel’s report. These include the development and testing of a general ban on the supply of new psychoactive substances across the whole of the UK, similar to the approach adopted in Ireland, to give law enforcement greater powers to tackle the market in so-called “legal highs”. Even with existing powers, the market has continued to evolve. A blanket ban on new psychoactive substances rather than a substance-by-substance approach will be effective in tackling the availability of new and untested substances. Other actions relate to health, prevention and information-sharing, including the UK’s world-leading Project Neptune to develop and share clinical guidelines on the detection, assessment and management of users in healthcare. We also continue to target evidence-based messages about the risks of new psychoactive substances.
Although law enforcement, health and prevention are devolved matters, misuse of drugs legislation applies to the UK as a whole. We have shared the panel’s report with the Scottish Government and the other Devolved Administrations, but we cannot comment in detail on activity underway in areas outside England. However, we understand—for example—that the Scottish Government continue to invest in substance misuse education to ensure that there is meaningful and credible advice available about the dangers of these substances, helping to make the right health choices, including through the ‘Know the Score’ service.
We will continue to engage with them as we progress work on legislative proposals alongside our wider response to address the issues that we share.