Risky 'party highs' for sale in city

godskitchen

godskitchen

Ex-Bluelighter
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
Messages
98
Location
on a tropical island
POTENTIALLY dangerous "legal highs" are being openly sold in the Capital despite the death of a 22-year-old woman who took the "party drug" GBL.
left align image

The cannabis substitute "Spice" – which the Home Office is set to ban after ruling it is "very likely to produce harmful effects" – is available in at least two city centre shops for around £20 for three grammes. And mephadrone – supposed to mimic the effects of amphetamines such as cocaine and Ecstasy – is £25 a gramme.

Spice is banned in several countries after being linked to at least one death and medics warn users face risks including fits and over-stimulation of the heart.

The Home Office is expected to make Spice a Class B drug by the end of the year, which means users could face up to five years in prison and dealers up to 14 years.

Both the Apothecary in Clerk Street and Drift Headshop on South Bridge sell Spice. Drift also has mephadrone. Apothecary staff said they did not sell mephadrone as it had "health-related issues". The manager of Drift Headshop could not be reached for comment.

A Scottish Drugs Forum spokesman said: "Keeping on top of the recreational drug culture will always provide a real challenge for the drugs field."

Home Secretary Alan Johnston has announced plans to outlaw Spice along with GBL, which is readily available on the internet. Stephanie Balcarras, 22, from Hamilton, was found dead in a friend's house in Blackpool last Saturday after taking the drug known as "liquid Ecstasy".

The expected ban has split opinion. Steve Rolles, the head of research at drug policy foundation Transform, said: "All of these legal highs have risks attached to taking them. Our feeling is that if you ban them then you create a criminal market for these substances. Where there's demand there will always be supply."

Earlier this month, "legal highs" were banned from every nightclub in Edinburgh following fears they could lead to deaths.

By ALAN McEWEN
November 2, 2009
The Edinburgh News
http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/to...ale.5786014.jp
 
^In fairness, a lot of drug users are confused what with methamphetamine, mephedrone, methedrone, methadone. Still, that is what editors are supposed to do.
 
There should be atleast a monkey in charge of quality control for the press, I mean even this guy would suffice..
meerkat___.jpg
 
godskitchen said:
Steve Rolles, the head of research at drug policy foundation Transform, said: "All of these legal highs have risks attached to taking them. Our feeling is that if you ban them then you create a criminal market for these substances. Where there's demand there will always be supply."
Click to expand...

And that is exactly what will happen. Better off legalizing the "real" stuff and regulating it. Safer, cheaper and will drive the "alternative" party high's right out of the market. Who the hell would smoke "Spice" if they had some good bud? Real bud smokes better, tastes better and is far safer. Same thing for other common party drugs.

The government isn't protecting citizens from drugs they are actually encouraging them to seek out more dangerous alternatives. It's been that way from the start of the "prohibition".
 
Yerg said:
^In fairness, a lot of drug users are confused what with methamphetamine, mephedrone, methedrone, methadone. Still, that is what editors are supposed to do.
Click to expand...
everyone is just as confused, but everyone thinks they have just the right picture of the whole drug issue. so the editors ARE doing their jobs, they're just fucking idiots like everyone else, which is how prohibition works
 
I never really got what made a drug qualify as a dangerous drug. They list 3 deaths from all of these compounds. I wish there was an article published everytime 3 people die from alcohol or tobacco. This section would be a cluster ****. I've done all the drugs they've listed multiple times in groups of 50+ people on them and no one died. ridiculous:\
 
^It's not like these drugs have been deliberately left legal, they're relatively new as popular highs so it should come as no surprise they haven't been controlled yet.
 
^If they became illegal they'd be distributed through the existing channels for other drugs, i.e. organised crime.
 
^or the chinese would just keep distributing like they are now with other substances that are 'illegal' elsewhere.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top