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Amazon drugs row: Fury as deadly 'legal highs' which can trigger psychotic episodes on sale online
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By Jack Doyle
PUBLISHED: 22:01, 10 May 2013 | UPDATED: 22:10, 10 May 2013

With reader comments

  • Internet giant is selling salvia, despite warnings from campaigners
  • Nitrous oxide and poppers are on sale as well
  • Maryon Stewart, whose daughter died after taking GBL, wrote to Amazon
  • She has asked it to withdraw the products along with drug pipes and bongs
  • She has had no response but says it is 'utterly irresponsible'
Deadly ‘legal highs’ are being sold on Amazon.

Despite warnings from campaigners, the online shop is selling salvia and describing it as ‘more powerful than LSD’. Nitrous oxide and poppers, which can be similarly lethal, are on sale as well. Maryon Stewart, whose daughter Hester died after taking the drug GBL, wrote to Amazon last month, asking it to withdraw the products along with drug pipes, bongs and scales.

She has had no response and this evening said: ‘It is utterly irresponsible that Amazon is selling this stuff and tantamount to an endorsement.

‘Amazon is a trusted brand and if it is selling something, it is likely to mislead young people into believing it’s safe.

‘We all know these products are not safe and people taking them are playing Russian roulette with their lives and mental wellbeing.’ EBay does not allow legal highs or drugs equipment to be sold through its site because it says they may ‘cause harm’.
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...s-trigger-psychotic-episodes-sale-online.html
 
I dont think the Daily Mail knows what russian roulette is, I doubt the odds of death in real russian roulette are in the millions (billions?) to one.
 
Though it's sad when people die, especially young people, it sucks when their parents go around crusading trying to restrict/outlaw everything. What happened to personal responsibility?
 
I wonder what its thoughts are on selling guns and bullets in Walmart. Surely they're safe if they're sold in Walmart?
 
Amazon Selling Drugs Online; Website Selling Bongs And Legal Hallucinogens Despite Pr

Amazon Selling Drugs Online; Website Selling Bongs And Legal Hallucinogens Despite Protests

Amazon is selling more than books and movies. The popular website is now facing controversy for selling drugs online. However, it's completely legal for Amazon to do this because they are only selling drug paraphernalia such as bongs, in addition to selling legal drugs and hallucinogens such as Salvia. Nitrous oxide and poppers, which can be similarly lethal, are on sale as well.

But packets of 'pure salvia extract' are sold on Amazon Marketplace by a firm called John Strong Supplies, which boasts of providing "the purest extracts at the best prices in the UK" and cites Press articles describing the psychoactive herb as 'more powerful than LSD, and legal'.

Drug experts warn salvia can trigger psychotic episodes, hallucinations and distortion of time, particularly in young people and those with mental health problems. It was linked to the death of Ryan Santanna, a 21-year-old film student who fell from a balcony in New York after smoking it in 2011.

"There is the danger with hallucinogenic drugs that people can injure themselves because they are seeing something that isn't there," said Harry Shapiro of the charity DrugScope. "There is the very odd case of people who believe they can fly. And, of course, people can just get scared by whatever it is that they see."

Maryon Stewart, whose daughter Hester died after taking the drug GBL, wrote to Amazon last month, asking it to withdraw the products along with drug pipes, bongs and scales.

'It is utterly irresponsible that Amazon is selling this stuff and tantamount to an endorsement," said Stewart. "Amazon is a trusted brand and if it is selling something, it is likely to mislead young people into believing it's safe. We all know these products are not safe and people taking them are playing Russian roulette with their lives and mental wellbeing."

Amazon has yet to publicly respond to the protests.

http://www.kpopstarz.com/articles/27401/20130511/amazon-selling-drugs-online.htm
 
I don't understand why this is news.

Also, bongs and pipes have an aspect of harm reduction to them. It's when teens start smoking out of pez dispensers or copper that real damage can be done.
 
Brighton mum's victory over Amazon legal high sale

Legal highs have been pulled from the shelves of an online retailer after a Brighton mother, who lost her daughter to the dangerous drugs, complained.

Maryon Stewart, whose 21-year-old daughter Hester died four years ago last month, said she found “powerful psychoactive substances” for sale on Amazon.

She wrote a condemning letter to the company about the sale of the legal high nitrous oxide, which has been linked to several deaths in the UK including 17-year-old Joseph Bennet from London in October last year.

The letter – seen by The Argus – said: “I am extremely alarmed to see Amazon UK also sells other dangerous legal highs and paraphernalia, including poppers, salvia (of all strengths), pipes, bongs and grinders.

“Amazon is a highly trusted brand and should not be selling powerful psychoactive substances in any country just because they are legal and their sales are lucrative.

“These drugs are proven to be very harmful and risky to young people’s welfare.”


According to the drugs charity Frank, salvia is a Mexican plant with leaves that contain psychoactive chemicals that produce hallucinations when chewed or when dried and smoked. Pipes, bongs and grinders – which were still available to buy on Amazon yesterday – are paraphernalia used to prepare or use drugs.

Speaking about Amazon, Mrs Stewart, of Brighton, said her daughter’s death had prompted her to campaign for change.

Brighton medical student Hester would now be 25 had she not taken the then-legal high GBL in a house in Patcham. A coroner ruled the drug, combined with alcohol, killed her.

Her mother said the UK was behind other countries including Northern Ireland, NewZealand and Belgium, in tackling the problem of legal highs.

Today she is set to visit the Government to discuss the issue and how to educate children about legal highs in schools.

She said: “I was told that legal highs were available for sale on Amazon and I was shocked.

“Children and young people could buy legal highs and they could arrive quite innocuously in an Amazon package without anyone knowing.

“People can store bank details on Amazon so it would be easy to do.

“Parents could be paying for legal highs.”

An Amazon spokesman said: “All sellers on Amazon Marketplace must adhere to our guidelines in relation to the products that they make available for sale on our website and we use a variety of methods to ensure compliance.

“We act quickly to remove any items that contravene our guidelines and take appropriate action with the seller in question.”

http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/10415661.Brighton_mum_s_victory_over_legal_high_sale
 
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