UK - Drugs adviser issues tough warning on 'legal highs'

[edgarshade]

Telegraph

By David Barrett, Home Affairs Correspondent
5:55PM BST 16 May 2013

With reader comments

The Government’s senior drugs adviser has issued a stark warning about the dangers of “legal highs” and admitted there are now 200 potentially dangerous synthetic drugs which have yet to be banned.

Prof Iversen said the ACMD was particularly concerned about Benzo Fury and a new set of compounds based on lysergic acid, better known as LSD. “The human dose is in micrograms, and so small you cannot weigh it accurately. They are usually presented as a dilute solution soaked into blotting paper. The dangers of overdose are clearly immense,” he said, during a public meeting of the ACMD in central London. “This is an area we are looking at with a great deal of caution and worry.”

Prof Iversen, a retired Oxford University professor of pharmacology, said potential medicines required extensive tests and trials for potential side effects before they were allowed on the market. “But these drugs can be made in China one week and shipped here for consumption the next week - to me that is an appalling situation,” he said.

The chairman suggested the Government could “tweak” the Medicines Act, which governs drugs for human consumption, or consumer protection laws.

More...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/10062289/Drugs-adviser-issues-tough-warning-on-legal-highs.html

Also in Daily Mail
With reader comments

Britain's streets 'are flooded with more than 200 illegal highs': Drugs tsar warns his department is struggling to keep up

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...rugs-tsar-warns-department-struggling-up.html

Also in Guardian
With reader comments

Legal highs flooding UK pose immense overdose risk, warns drugs tsar

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/may/16/legal-highs-risk-overdose-drugs-tsar

 

[Si Dread]

He said they were particularly worried about the impact of a synthetic drug that is becoming widely available in Britain that imitates the hallucinogenic effects of LSD, which once fuelled the 1960s psychedelic era but has been out of popularity for more than 30 years.

What? WHAT? Hahahaha oh dear, fail! As if LSD ever fell out of popularity.

Also, if these new Psychedelic drugs (I presume Iversen is referring to NBOMe's) are so dangerous, wouldn't it be safer & healthier to NAME them in the article..?

He rejected a new approach in New Zealand, which tests and licenses the sale of these new psychoactive substances, as unworkable in Britain, but said a solution might be found by tweaking the Medicines Act or using consumer protection laws.

Nope, don't like this guy! No wonder he replaced Nutt, he's a government lacky clearly incapable of rational or independent thought.

 

[Hammilton]

What? WHAT? Hahahaha oh dear, fail! As if LSD ever fell out of popularity.

How old are you? LSD definitely declined in popularity during the 1980's. Take a look at seizures of various drugs, they were definite trends, wanes and waxings of various drugs. LSD went from obscurity to overnight sensation, then gradually fell off after it was banned and the hippy movement turned to speed.

I would assume the same, about NBOMe's, but there has been an increase in LSD analogues appearing as RCs.

Ham

 

[edgarshade]

There was a resurgence of LSD use in the 1990s. It comes back every so often. It's only held back by propaganda. Eventually it will break though again.

It has the honour of being one of the most difficult sustances to intercept due to its potency and the fact it can be impregnated onto paper.

 

[Transform]

Les Iversen is actually remarkably rational compared to most, having published The Science of Marijuana which is supposedly pretty good. He is not the loose cannon that Nutt was, he knows he needs to toe the line, but he does give good input to the ACMD.

It's odd that he flat-out rejects the NZ model, as I feel like I've seen him praise it before, but he's not all bad. The NBOMes are an absolute blight because of our drug culture and the way that people can obtain them so easily.

 

[weekend addiction]

I honestly don't know why there isn't more LSD around. Granted I'm not looking for any so maybe thats why I haven't got any. I almost had a 10 strip about 3 years back but things didn't work out. In my younger days I would have tried it willy nilly. Now I want to wait until my mental state is perfect, I have a trip sitter, and a safe environment. All of those things will take time.

It seems like people in Britain are more likely to order legal highs off the internet. I wonder if there legal high market is bigger than America and if so why? I know America bought lots of spice and bath salts but I don't think we order RC's at the same rate. Could be wrong here please correct me if I am.

 

[edgarshade]

Sacremento Bee

Home Secretary is Ignoring Advice Over Legal Highs Including her Experts

By Angelus Foundation
Published: Thursday, May. 16, 2013

With reader comments

Founder of the drugs charity, Angelus, Maryon Stewart, described the Home Secretary as, "ignoring advice over Legal Highs including her own experts." The Chair of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, Prof. Les Iversen warned today that there would be a terrible incident with legal highs "sooner or later."

Prof Iversen's warning followed reports from Home Affairs Committee, the All Party Committee on Drug Reform and UK Drug Policy Commission all of which include stark reminders of the need for urgent action against easy access to legal highs. However, the Home Secretary refuses to acknowledge there is a significant problem. In December, she promised to Parliament she would look into "existing legislation" such consumer protection and trading standards but nothing resulted. Each March she sets out her priorities on drugs to the ACMD chair but has not done so this year.

Prof Les Iversen said, "We will get unexpected and serious harm emerging with one of these compounds and then we will blame ourselves for allowing them to be sold without the usual safety data. I think this is a serious problem, it's not just a nice set of party drugs that we can let people get on with, it's a set of chemicals that are potentially very dangerous."

Angelus is campaigning for new laws to stop the trade in legal highs on the high street. Angelus met with Drug Minister, Jeremy Browne earlier this year as well as officials at No.10 but none would commit to any legal changes to stop the booming business of selling legal highs to young people despite the fact that many other countries are now taking action.

More:
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/05/16/5426643/home-secretary-is-ignoring-advice.html

 

[MrPorter]

I honestly don't know why there isn't more LSD around. Granted I'm not looking for any so maybe thats why I haven't got any. I almost had a 10 strip about 3 years back but things didn't work out. In my younger days I would have tried it willy nilly. Now I want to wait until my mental state is perfect, I have a trip sitter, and a safe environment. All of those things will take time.

It seems like people in Britain are more likely to order legal highs off the internet. I wonder if there legal high market is bigger than America and if so why? I know America bought lots of spice and bath salts but I don't think we order RC's at the same rate. Could be wrong here please correct me if I am.

Well other than the tricky synth, there's more profit on NBOMes I imagine, and definitely more in selling NBOMe as LSD.

A lot of RC places don't ship to America due to their stricter catch all clauses. Royal Mail is probably the biggest drug distributor in UK imo

 

[Si Dread]

How old are you? LSD definitely declined in popularity during the 1980's. Take a look at seizures of various drugs, they were definite trends, wanes and waxings of various drugs. LSD went from obscurity to overnight sensation, then gradually fell off after it was banned and the hippy movement turned to speed.

I would assume the same, about NBOMe's, but there has been an increase in LSD analogues appearing as RCs.

Ham

Old enough to remember when Acid House began to get popular in 1987. I'm sure something in the way that new music was titled & the role Ecstacy & LSD played in it's rise in popularity tells you something about how much LSD was going round in the late 80's. I had my first trip in 1988.

But the article suggests that LSD had fallen out of favour in the 60's & never returned, which is patently not true. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that the popularity of NBOMe compounds is directly related to the continued interest in the LSD experience.