DM-Legal highs Benzo Fury and NBOMe to be banned by ministers after being linked...

[edgarshade]

Legal highs Benzo Fury and NBOMe to be banned by ministers after being linked to deaths

By Matt Chorley, Mailonline Political Editor
PUBLISHED: 13:15, 28 November 2013

• Government's drug advisers call for permanent ban on two substances
• NBOMe to be a outlawed as a class A drug with dealers facing life in jail
• BenzoFury, dubbed a legal form of ecstasy, to be a class B substance
• Follows reports of deaths across the country and in the USA
• Jake Harris, 21, slit his own throat with a wine glass after taking NBOMe
• Trainee psychologist Jennifer Whiteley, 27, died after taking Benzo Fury

Two legal highs linked to a string of deaths in Britain are to be banned. The government’s official drugs advisers said NBOMe would be outlawed permanently as a class A substance, meaning dealers could face up to life in prison. It also recommended that Benzo Fury - once marketed as a legal form of ecstasy – be controlled as a class B substance.

Both drugs have been subject to temporary bans after concerns about their health effects. Crime prevention minister Norman Baker, who recently took up the post in the last coalition reshuffle, said: ‘I am grateful to the ACMD for its advice on Benzofury and NBOMe and we will respond in due course.’ NBOMe, known on the street as N-Bomb and Smiley Paper, is a popular club drug mainly bought over the internet.

Its effects, which can last six to 10 hours, include euphoria and feelings of love but also confusion, shaking, nausea, insomnia and paranoia, the ACMD said. Last week an inquest heard how father-to-be Jake Harris died after slitting his own throat with a broken wine glass when he suffered a devastating reaction to the drug. The 21-year-old is said to have gone 'crazy' at an all-night party after taking a mind-bending drug known as N-Bomb.

More...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ury-NBOMe-banned-ministers-linked-deaths.html

 

[RoomforJello]

Yet 5-EAPB, bk-2C-B, LSZ and AL-LAD have replaced 6-APB(which was the active compound in Benzo fury not 5-APB or 5-MAPD like the article says) and nbomes. Not that I'm really sad to see the NBOMes go just pointing out the failed policy and the fact we know even less about these new drugs. Its time to legalise the drugs we know are relatively safe in comparison, LSD, MDMA, cannabis and mushrooms. In fact many would argue these may even be beneficial to some people, but I doubt we will see the daily mail report about that anytime soon.

This quote from the article just proves my point even further:

The court was told she had already picked up some cocaine and vodka to share with revellers but Mr Higgins supplied the N-Bomb drug to his friend. He believed it was LSD and said he wanted to 'test' its effect before visiting the Glastonbury festival.

Also in the article its says about the Benzo Fury death:

Miss Whitely consumed 5APB and 5MAPD as well as cocaine and a small amount of alcohol. At about 5am Miss Whiteley started sweating profusely and collapsed after going into the bathroom to cool down.

Yeah it was the dangerous Benzo Fury that killed her not the mixture of three stimulants and alcohol.

Its good to see most of the comments supporting legalisation though, maybe everyone has woken up to the failed drug war. Now we just need politicians to catch up.

 

[Folley]

I thought the APBs and NBOMes were already illegal in the UK?

 

[RoomforJello]

I thought the APBs and NBOMes were already illegal in the UK?

Its a temporary ban, they are talking about making it a permanent ban. AFAIK the temporary ban only covers supply, possession is still a gray area but I believe you wouldn't get charged, but I'm not a lawyer so may be wrong.

 

[MagickalKat777]

I wonder if this is going to be a catch-all ban.

 

[Si Dread]

Yeah, they were banned from sale in early summer, temporarily, & now the government has decided they are to stay properly banned!

I dispute (slightly) the post above. NBOMe compounds are definitely much less safe physically than the new Lysergides that have sought to replace them. I keep my ear to the ground on this subject & I was aware of NBOMe compounds & their potential effects & dangers long before they appeared for sale anywhere. Equally, I have been aware of the possibilities surrounding the new Lysergides & I cannot say that I found there to be any obvious physical risks to using them. There are ALWAYS psychological risks & the dreadful story about the broken wine glass could effectively happen on ANY psychedelic. But with the NBOMe psychedelics there are physical dangers such as blood pressure & heart rate.

The APB's have also been around awhile & I foresaw problems with these a long time ago. Because these drugs mimic the effects of MDMA, which is known to be more dangerous in hot, crowded enviroments, I suspected that folk would suffer similar reactions to those that have taken the lives of MDMA/Ecstacy users since it became popular & my suspicions have since been borne out.

I am not unhappy to see either of these drugs groups banned, even as I wish to have MDMA & Psilocybin legalised.

 

[babylonboy]

Eh. I'm all for total legalisation, but in a distorted market, such as the one we have, there's a concept of a second best that is not simply as close as possible to total freedom, i.e. further distortion can actually be desirable to reach a local optimum, a "second-best" scenario. I think all psychedelics should be available, but to be frank, if LSD and mescaline and all the other tryptamines and phenethylamines are to stay illegal, I think it's probably for the best if the NBOMe drugs are banned too. They're super potent and quite dangerous, and they're being distributed, without any kind of regulation, to people who have neither the understanding nor the resources to handle them in an appropriate way, at pocket money prices. I don't really think that's ideal. Just my tuppence.

 

[Si Dread]

Naturally, in a market driven drugs economy, compounds such as these would be weeded out probably before they got anywhere near widespread distribution. But we do not have a market driven drugs economy, we have a LAW driven drugs economy where compounds are created to bypass laws regardless of their safety or efficacy.

Some hardcore psychonauts will always find something that interests them & may well destroy themselves on it, but the average drugs user would be quite happy, as would I, if they could access legailly the basic recreational drugs set of LSD, Psilocybin, MDMA, cocaine, ketamine, amphetamines & marijuana. Almost every RC has been synthed & sold in an effort to replicate the effects of one or other of these drugs.

 

[edgarshade]

I wonder if this is going to be a catch-all ban.

By "catch-all ban" do you mean loads of other substances get banned at the same time?

For example methedrone was the only substance in the news yet methylone and other cathinones got banned at the same time. When MXE was banned so were some other disociatives.

I guess in this case 5-EAPB will probably get swiped too.

 

[MagickalKat777]

By "catch-all ban" do you mean loads of other substances get banned at the same time?

For example methedrone was the only substance in the news yet methylone and other cathinones got banned at the same time. When MXE was banned so were some other disociatives.

I guess in this case 5-EAPB will probably get swiped too.

By catch-all ban, I am talking about a general structural ban like they did with phenethylamines and tryptamines that made most substances that weren't even on the market automatically illegal.

It seems like they would get tired of the analogs being made and just ban them all in one law.

 

[babylonboy]

They're likely to modify the existing generic phenethylamine clause to cover all these chemicals.

 

[RoomforJello]

Si- Well I think all drugs should be legal but the current drug policies have completely failed I doubt anyone here would argue that, what I was trying to say was that we have studied and ingested these compounds for decades, even longer for natural drugs like mushrooms and cannabis, we know their long term effects on the body and mind, we have no idea how bad these new chemicals could be until they have been studied. Thats why I think we should ultimately go for a pharmaceutical type approach to recreational drugs, the ones I mention where just examples of drugs we already have studied and myself would legalise instantly. I mean the APB's could be even safer than MDMA but we simply don't know because they are quickly banned and never researched long term.

Babylonboy, but I ask you would we even want to use the NBOMes if the 2C-Xs where legal and would we even use those if LSD was legal and readily available in the first place? Ok the psychonauts would but the general populace would most likely take the tried and tested over the new and possibly dangerous.
Also the nbomes are still being distributed without any regulation thats the result of prohibition an untested and unregulated market. In fact I made the point when the DEA banned them that this could simply increase the dangers of NBOMe because its now dealers laying the blotters with possibly no clue what they are doing leading to ultra-potent tabs and using the same art as LSD.

 

[babylonboy]

I don't use NBOMe drugs, but I do use 2Cs, as well as LSD, and I choose to do so even though I have access to LSD, mushrooms and mescaline, and I would continue to want to use them even if I could legally buy regulated LSD. The general populace, for the most part, aren't all that interested in psychedelics in the first place- isn't the logical conclusion of your argument "but I ask you would we even want to use the NBOMes if the 2C-Xs where legal and would we even use those if LSD was legal and readily available in the first place? And do we want to use LSD in a world where MDMA is legal? Who wants to use Ecstasy if weed is available? Can't everyone just stick to alcohol?". As I said, I favour everything being available. and yes, I think that NBOMes are often used as an LSD substitute (otherwise my argument falls apart, if NBOMe use is totally independent of the legal status of other drugs), and that this is dangerous. I don't know how widespread NBOMe being misrepresented as acid is here (UK), it's a consideration, but on balance, I think we are probably better off with no legal psychedelics than with these ones.

 

[MagickalKat777]

but on balance, I think we are probably better off with no legal psychedelics than with these ones.

As much as I hate to say it, I tend to agree with you on this.

I'm all for legalization but compounds as dangerous as these just shouldn't be out there. The reports of long-term tolerance, the struggle to achieve activity in the first place, the microdosing... Its all a recipe for disaster.

 

[my3rdeye]

LSZ and AL-LAD .

It's going to be a shame when they get banned. It only takes one person to do something crazy, and someone will. I don't even like calling those 2 RC's. I hope they don't get popular and stay under the radar, but I doubt it. They are safer than nbomes though.

 

[RoomforJello]

I don't use NBOMe drugs, but I do use 2Cs, as well as LSD, and I choose to do so even though I have access to LSD, mushrooms and mescaline, and I would continue to want to use them even if I could legally buy regulated LSD. The general populace, for the most part, aren't all that interested in psychedelics in the first place- isn't the logical conclusion of your argument "but I ask you would we even want to use the NBOMes if the 2C-Xs where legal and would we even use those if LSD was legal and readily available in the first place? And do we want to use LSD in a world where MDMA is legal? Who wants to use Ecstasy if weed is available? Can't everyone just stick to alcohol?". As I said, I favour everything being available. and yes, I think that NBOMes are often used as an LSD substitute (otherwise my argument falls apart, if NBOMe use is totally independent of the legal status of other drugs), and that this is dangerous. I don't know how widespread NBOMe being misrepresented as acid is here (UK), it's a consideration, but on balance, I think we are probably better off with no legal psychedelics than with these ones.

Bad example I was talking more about the research chemical/legal replacement as a whole, as in would people use cannibinoids over cannabis or the APB's over MDMA because we know the dangers of the drugs we have actually researched. As it is things just keep getting more dangerous the more chemicals that are banned because they are replaced by a drug we may not even know the short term effects never mind the longterm ones.

I agree not everyone would simply be content with just LSD or MDMA, thats why I said the psychonauts and the more open drug users would still look for a different drug/high but I doubt many people as a whole would choose to use a drug that hasn't been studied over something that has, if both options where available legally and pure that is. I mean your on bluelight so I assume you know the dangers of the drugs you are using but a lot don't, especially when it comes to the newer legal highs, hell some people may not even know NBOMes exist never mind the dangers or that acid could be misrepresented. Not everyone is schooled on the dangers of drugs as you or I may be, which is also something I think is important to teach people if we are to legalise anything.

Also you said you use four illegal(in the UK at least) drugs, sometimes thats not an option to people, some people need to take drug test for work or they simply don't know a dealer, so if they want to get high to bad unless your willing to take the legal replacements which could have terrible effects on your health.

I wasn't trying to defend the NBOMe BTW, I have used them and enjoyed them but never again after knowing the deaths and sensitivity issues related to them, can't get comfortable tripping knowing you may die.

 

[RoomforJello]

It's going to be a shame when they get banned. It only takes one person to do something crazy, and someone will. I don't even like calling those 2 RC's. I hope they don't get popular and stay under the radar, but I doubt it. They are safer than nbomes though.

Hoping to sample some LSZ soon, sounds promising from what I've read, and definitely sound safer than the NBOMes thankfully. For some reason I don't see AL-LAD or LSZ staying round for long which could just see people start selling NBOH or something possibly worse instead.