UK - Legal highs are like playing Russian roulette, says police chief

[edgarshade]

Swindon Advisor

10:30am Friday 9th March 2012

With reader comments

SWINDON’S police chief has vowed to crack down on so-called legal highs after an Adver investigation found some of them contained banned substances.

Supt Gavin Williams said his officers would be vigilant when it came to designer drugs such as Slush Eric, or MPA, 4-methylethcathinone (4-MEC) and MXE, which can be easily bought over the internet.

The Adver commissioned analysis of packets of the substances bought from the website Wide Mouth Frogs, and the results turned up traces of class B drugs in the 4-MEC.

More...
http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/..._playing_Russian_roulette__says_police_chief/

Reader comment

Hmmmf says...
2:52pm Fri 9 Mar 12

No. Those are just meaningless soundbites of the kind spouted by junkies fed up with looking over their shoulders. There is no 'War on Drugs' and calling them 'recreational substances' is pandering to the criminal underclass that uses them. The only people claiming that law enforcement measures against prohibited substances are 'a failure' are mostly those that want to use said substances but don't want to risk being caught and convicted, or publicity-seeking ex-hippies who own record companies. There are not 'millions more users' and the trade in illegal substances is not 'booming.' Nor is the taxpayer wasting 'billions' on this non-existant war. Possession of illegal substances is a crime, so is speeding, so is assault, all are dangerous and penalties exist in order to deter people from engaging in those activities. Making them legal does not make the problems and dangers go away. Finally, if druggies need to resort to crime to fund their habits now, how do you think they'd fund those habits if tax were added to the cost of their filth, hmm?

 

[Venrak]

What does a police chief know about the pharmacology of these drugs to declare that they are like ''playing Russian roulette''?

 

[dip12]

What does a police chief know about the pharmacology of these drugs to declare that they are like ''playing Russian roulette''?

umm, "playing russian roulette" is actual quite accurate depending on what legal highs one is referring. (Have you seen some of the chaos already created?)

I defend someones wish to take a specific known chemical but the "legal high" industry is timebomb for a MAJOR f**k up. I.e CNS toxicity, QT interval prolongation, hepatic failure, renal failure, encephalopathy - that just a few potential risks of unknown chemicals - "legal high" suppliers stamp on such chemicals, mix them together, mislabel them with no regulation on quality control, impurities, excipients.

IF someone chooses to ingest CHEMICAL X that's there business but the selling of "bath salts", admixtures, incense and unknowns is another.

 

[villian]

What does a police chief know about the pharmacology of these drugs to declare that they are like ''playing Russian roulette''?

It doesn't even have so much to do with the pharmacology (some does) but more so in my opinion that these substances are produced in random Chinese labs with no quality control. Who knows if you are getting the chemical you really purchased, and even if you do there is no way to tell if there if it was a clean synth with nothing left over in the final product.

 

[23536]

He's really communicating with the youth of today by invoking the Russian Roulette trope. Very original.

Can anybody help this guy out and think of some new similes? Taking legal highs is like ___________?

 

[Venrak]

It doesn't even have so much to do with the pharmacology (some does) but more so in my opinion that these substances are produced in random Chinese labs with no quality control. Who knows if you are getting the chemical you really purchased, and even if you do there is no way to tell if there if it was a clean synth with nothing left over in the final product.

It is up to the user to request MSDS sheets with their chemicals as well as to do reagent testing to be as certain as possible that the chemical is indeed what it is represented as. Also, the user should wash their products before consuming to minimalize synth by-products, do allergy tests first, and watch for side-effects etc.

There are ways to consume the chemicals relatively safely. Any researcher worth their salt will do hours of research before consuming a chemical and have a basic understanding of the pharmacology of the chemical in question as well as possible metabolites.

I agree that if a person with no pharmacology background were to take a chemical once it hits the market, they are putting themselves at risk, essentially ''playing Russian roulette". But if one is smart, one will allow those who can make informed decisions about taking the chemical in question to do so and to discuss it's pharmacology before attempting a bioassay .