In the UK, legal highs are sometimes referred to as bath salts, fertilisers (plant foods) or incense, although they have never been used for these purposes so as not to be controlled by the Medicines Act. In other words, legal highs are not covered by current drug laws, but are consumed by individuals in the same way as illicit drugs such as cocaine or cannabis. The easy availability of legal highs, marketed as “bath salts”, “incense” and “herbal foods”, with the added condition that they cannot be consumed by humans, allows the drugs to circumvent current legislation. When legislation is changed, the molecular structure can be slightly modified to create a new legal high. Matt “Starboy” Bowden is a New Zealand rock musician and activist. Formerly known as the “godfather of the legal highs industry”[1], he is credited with developing non-lethal, non-addictive party pills as a safer substitute for methamphetamine addicts,[2] and for lobbying successfully in New Zealand for a system of quality control and regulation of psychoactive substances. He performs musically under the name Starboy and produces progressive rock music with elaborate theatrical performances and produces short films, especially Starboy Eternity.[3] After Zee himself enjoyed chewing khat leaves, he developed a large-scale method of producing cathinone with 700 kg. He sold it legally for human use in capsules in Israel starting around 2003 under the name “Hagigat,” which people compared to cocaine, noting its sexually stimulating effects. In 2004, the Israeli government banned it, but at the time, Zee`s work on pest control had given him new ideas.
A few weeks ago, a colleague sent me a link to an article in the Wall Street Journal. He described a “European entrepreneur experienced in the laboratory” and his chief chemist who scoured the scientific literature for ideas for new synthetic drugs – so-called legal highs. I was particularly troubled to see my name in the article and that I had been “particularly valuable” to their cause. I received emails saying that I had to stop my research and that I was an embarrassment to my university. The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) has expressed dismay at the use of the “appalling” image of a confused chemist by Crime Prevention Minister James Brokenshire. Contrary to initial reports, Louis Wainwright, Nicholas Smith and Joslyne Cockburn died after mixing heroin substitute methadone with alcohol. Gabrielle Price dies of an infection. It`s true that mephedrone has been linked to deaths – in 2015, it was mentioned in 44 death certificates in the UK, the highest year to date, despite government efforts. But there were 1201 deaths related to heroin and morphine, 320 for cocaine and 157 for amphetamines. Only eight death certificates mentioned SCs, although this may be misleading due to detection difficulties.
These statistics lend weight to what scientists who study drug use suspect: that NPS attract disproportionate attention — even taking into account the burden of spices on emergency departments and prisons. The UK`s potentially restrictive research ban comes even though its citizens have not embraced NPS as much as the US and Australia, Measham said. She regularly conducts surveys on drug use in clubs and festivals, where she notes that people “love and want traditional drugs.” “In the UK, we have very easy availability of high-purity, low-cost ecstasy, cocaine and ketamine. They don`t need to track substances that they don`t really know about their short-term effects or long-term consequences. “Users of legal highs should be informed that these drugs purchased online may contain illegal substances and can therefore be prosecuted if found in possession. 27 In the literature, we see head shop owners preparing chemicals in concrete mixers – a highly regulated industry is not, and the long-term impact on users is still largely unknown. As for short-term deaths, deaths from legal highs have doubled over the past five years, with hospital admissions up 56% during the 2009-2012 period. Last week, five men collapsed in Rochdale after taking legal highs called Annihilation and Cherry Bomb. In the UK, the production and supply of legal highs was banned on 26 May 2016. The 2016 Psychoactive Substances Act (PSA) introduced a blanket ban punishable by up to seven years in prison, with exemptions for medicines, food and drink, as well as caffeine, nicotine and alcohol.
A major concern of PPE is its wide range of applications. “A psychoactive effect is something that affects a person`s mental function or emotional state by stimulating or suppressing their nervous system,” the board explains. Simple synthesis, low-cost and ingenious marketing contributed to the problem.