Nottinghamshire county council has welcomed the new ban on ‘legal highs’ which could see users of the drugs face seven years in prison.
The ban which came into force on 25 May, criminalises the production, supply, possession with the intent to supply, import or export psychoactive substances.
Councillor Glynn Gilfoyle, Committee Chairman for Community Safety at Nottinghamshire County Council said: “These new drugs can kill and there have been cases elsewhere in the UK where people have died.”
A psychoactive substance is defined in the new law as a drug which is capable of affecting a person’s mental functioning or emotional state, but is not currently controlled as a Class A, B or C drug.
Councillor Gilfoyle added: “If someone was presented with a decaying slice of meat with maggots in it, that would not be fit for human consumption – so why do people take the risk with these new drugs when they don’t know what chemicals are in them and what effect it will have on them?”
People are dicing with death
In 2015 Nottinghamshire County Council’s Trading Standards team seized more than 900 packs of untested drugs with names including ‘Go-Caine’, ‘Herbal Haze’ and ‘Atomic Bomb’.
The maximum sentence of for having any substance intended for human consultation that is capable of producing a psychoactive effect is seven years.
Councillor Gilfoyle said:”In many cases, new psychoactive substances are also packaged with a warning saying ‘not for human consumption’.”
He added: “People are dicing with death and risking their health when they take new psychoactive substances.”
The new drugs can be highly addictive and have many associated risks including negative consequences on people’s mental health as well as causing kidney disease and other long term conditions.
The council’s Trading Standards, Community Safety and Public Health teams have formed a working group with partners including the police, health and voluntary organisations to address issues arising from the use of ‘legal highs’ across the county.
Its Community Safety team was consulted by Mansfield District Council earlier this year and backed its plans to introduce a Public Space Protection Order in June 2016 which would ban the use and sale of ‘new drugs’ in Mansfield.
The team has also been consulted on similar proposals by Bassetlaw District Council to cover Retford and Worksop town centre which have also been backed.
