Your legal high may be outlawed – if it isn’t already

Hardline oldies in government are set to bring in tough laws to ban a new wave of party drugs. 

Home Secretary Theresa May is leading the charge in clamping down on the sale and distribution of so called “new psychoactive substances” like mephedrone.

The current coalition has banned more than 350 substances since the turn of the decade. But continue to be outfoxed by manufacturers in China and India who produce similar drugs with the same effect that are not technically illegal.

He’s having a bad time

Now boring Home Office mandarins want to bring in a blanket ban to mollycoddle you even further.

Speaking to the Sunday Times, a senior Home Office source said: “We are trying to do it as quickly as possible. But if it’s not in time for this parliament, it will definitely be in the next.”

Mephedrone, which simulates the effects of MDMA but is drastically cheaper, shot to fame in 2009 only to be banned a year later. In a 2013 Tab survey of over 5,000 students, 22 per cent admitted taking it.

Mephedrone – circa 2009

The Home Office has blamed legal highs for a rise in the number of people seeking treatment in recent years. In 2010-11, 839 adults were treated for mephedrone use, compared to 1,630 in 2012-13. But the number of under 18s being helped reached nearly 1,800.

They want to take a similar approach to Ireland, who have made it a criminal offence to advertise, sell, import, export and supply legal highs.

Legal highs have also been blamed for a rise in prison violence as standard tests do not detect substances which aren’t banned. Justice Secretary Chris Grayling said: “It’s one of the big challenges our prison system is facing.”

Lincoln is surprisingly the capital for legal highs and “head shop drugs”. in 2014 over 800 incidents reported to police were said to be linked to substances not yet banned and available in shops.