Deaths from the abuse of illegal drugs are, tragically, an all-too-common feature of modern society. But an even more disturbing trend is the rise in the number of deaths resulting from the taking of mind-altering drugs that are not illegal, or “legal highs” as they are known. Innovative government action is needed now.
In 2010, while the overall number of drug-abuse deaths fell by 14 per cent from the previous year to 1,883, some 40 of these deaths resulted from people taking substances that were not on the lists of controlled substances and, therefore, were legal, even if only in the sense that they had not yet been banned. In 2009, there were only five such deaths.
Because they are legal, they can be sold in shops and over the internet. And because they are so readily available, people in search of a passing thrill tend to assume that they must be safe. They are not. In June, at the Rockness music festival, teenager Alex Herriot died after taking a so-called legal high. In the Strathclyde Police area this year, 13 people including two teenage girls have been hospitalised after taking a “herbal incense” called Annihilation.
