UK - A new legal high goes on sale every week, says EU drugs agency

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edgarshade

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Guardian

Alan Travis, home affairs editor
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 26 April 2012 13.56 BST

With reader comments
New "legal highs" and other synthetic drugs are appearing on the market at the rate of one a week, the EU's drug agency has warned.

The Lisbon-based European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) said 49 new "psychoactive" substances were officially notified for the first time in 2011 through an EU early-warning system.

"This represents the largest number of substances ever reported in a single year, up from 41 substances reported in 2010 and 24 reported in 2009," said the agency.
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Wolfgang Götz, the agency director, said: "We now see drugs marketed in attractive packages on the internet or sold in nightclubs and street corners.

"Whatever the source, the simple fact is that a dangerous game of roulette is being played by those who consume an ever-growing variety of powders, pills and mixtures without accurate knowledge of what substances they contain and the potential health risk they pose."
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/apr/26/new-legal-highs-one-a-week
 
Just for a laugh, here's the Daily Mail version.

Fears police and drugs agencies will fail to keep up as a new 'legal high' found every week

By Jack Doyle

PUBLISHED: 00:18, 27 April 2012 | UPDATED: 01:46, 27 April 2012

With reader comments

'Legal high' drugs are being discovered at the rate of one a week, it emerged last night.

Last year, 49 previously unknown drugs were detected by European monitors. It is the highest number of dangerous new substances ever recorded in a single year, said the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), as it warned of their ‘unprecedented’ growth. The flood of potentially toxic new chemicals has raised fears that police and drug agencies in the UK are struggling to keep up.
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...il-new-legal-high-week.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
 
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