Daily Mail - Ban on 'legal high' drugs doomed to fail as officers will focus on '....

[edgarshade]

Ban on 'legal high' drugs doomed to fail as officers will focus on 'serious criminality', police chiefs warn

By Mark Duell

PUBLISHED: 00:37, 2 April 2012 | UPDATED: 00:39, 2 April 2012

With reader comments

Police chiefs have warned the Government that the banning of ‘legal high’ drugs is doomed to fail, it was claimed yesterday. They say that declaring the substances illegal does not work and forces will treat anyone found with them leniently – cautioning them instead of sending them to court. The submission from the Association of Chief Police Officers to the home affairs select committee, which is examining drugs policy, is an embarrassment for the Home Office.

In documents seen by The Times, ACPO warns that new measures which led to the banning of legal high methoxetamine or ‘Mexxy’ last week are not a realistic option given the speed with which new drugs can be produced. It said: ‘From an early stage, the chair of Acpo’s drugs committee was of the opinion that the solution to the particular challenge of legal highs did not lie in adding inexorably to the list of illicit substances.

A Home Office spokesman said: ‘The UK is leading the way in cracking down on new psychoactive substances by banning them while the harms they cause are investigated. ‘Drugs ruin lives and cause misery to families and communities. Our strategy is to keep drugs off the streets and punish the dealers.’

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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ail-pressure-officers-police-chiefs-warn.html

 

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Independent
Drug campaigners back 'legal high' warning

Monday 02 April 2012
Wesley Johnson and Diana Pilkington

With reader comments

Roger Howard, the UKDPC's chief executive, said: "We are deluding ourselves if we think that the temporary ban will solve the problem."

He went on: "We should think instead about what other powers we can use. Trading standards controls could provide a boosted first line of defence. "We should encourage retailers to work with the authorities to reduce the damage that drug use can cause, and allow us to bring some discipline to an unregulated market."

More...
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-s...paigners-back-legal-high-warning-7607822.html