Suppliers of Legal Highs Should Have to Prove Safety, Says Report
Current legislation is struggling to handle the growing number of potentially harmful drugs, the majority of which are legally shipped from China and sold on the internet by students and others wanting to make a quick buck, according to the report published on Tuesday.
Roger Howard, chief executive of the UK Drug Policy Commission, an independent think tank on Drug policy, welcomed the ACMD report, which recommends tweaking the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act and using consumer protection regulation to control the influx of new substances.
The speed at which drugs are now being developed makes it impossible for policymakers and enforcement agencies to be on top of the market," said Howard in a statement.
"Rather than trying to hold back this tidal wave with outdated tools, we should recognise that not all drugs are equally harmful. Those who seek to sell new drugs should have to prove their safety, rather than the government having to prove otherwise.
We have rapidly growing numbers of psychoactive drugs on the market, and its becoming increasingly difficult for the police to identify the different drugs theyre finding. Controll! ing even more drugs through the drugs laws doesnt do anything to help that nor to prevent harms that might emerge.
Suppliers of so called "legal high" drugs should be required to prove their products are safe before being allowed onto the market, recommends a report by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD).
Current legislation is struggling to handle the growing number of potentially harmful drugs, the majority of which are legally shipped from China and sold on the internet by students and others wanting to make a quick buck, according to the report published on Tuesday.
Roger Howard, chief executive of the UK Drug Policy Commission, an independent think tank on Drug policy, welcomed the ACMD report, which recommends tweaking the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act and using consumer protection regulation to control the influx of new substances.
The speed at which drugs are now being developed makes it impossible for policymakers and enforcement agencies to be on top of the market," said Howard in a statement.
"Rather than trying to hold back this tidal wave with outdated tools, we should recognise that not all drugs are equally harmful. Those who seek to sell new drugs should have to prove their safety, rather than the government having to prove otherwise.
We have rapidly growing numbers of psychoactive drugs on the market, and its becoming increasingly difficult for the police to identify the different drugs theyre finding. Controlling even more drugs through the drugs laws doesnt do anything to help that nor to prevent harms that might emerge.
Currently, the regulation of new drugs and legal highs affords new substances a default "legal" status as long as they do not belong to the list of illegal drugs as set out in drugs legislation.
The growth of the legal high market was highlighted by the widespread use of mephedrone, known as Meow Meow, a couple of years ago, which was being sold on the internet ! as a pla nt food, but widely used as a drug of choice by many. The ACMD recommended it be classified as a Class B drug.
Then last year, a new legal high called Ivory Wave was deemed by a coroner to have been a "strong contributory factor" in the death of a 24-year-old man.
The ACMD report says that substances are primarily imported from China via air freight and post.
The report says that the market for these substances has spawned a new type of "dealer" entrepreneurs who see a business opportunity while the substance remains legal. This has meant that once a substance has entered the drug scene the market can be very quickly saturated with the new drug. Many people importing these new substances appear to have had no previous involvement in the illicit drug trade and are just in it to make a quick buck. They have included students who have set up websites to supply nationally and who also supply the local student population.
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