Strathclyde Chief Constable Campbell Corrigan has revealed the drugs he most worries about.
Not heroin, amphetamines or cocaine: he loses sleep over so-called "legal highs." "They terrify me, they absolutely terrify me," said the force's most senior officer. "There are young people who think these are not really drugs at all, but something between those high-energy drinks and cannabis. "That is absolutely not the case." Strathclyde Police has issued warning after warning about the substances their officers refer to as "new drugs" than as "legal highs". They are talking about supposedly lawful products sold in "head shops" – the name given to premises which sell "legal highs", including Glasgow city centre premises – and on the internet as plant food or incense, but clearly intended by consumption.
Such legal highs include Annihilation, a product sometimes sold in packaging featuring a nuclear mushroom cloud, which was flagged up by the force this month after nine people needed hospital treatment after taking it.
Glasgow has been targeted by those pushing such products – which often, in fact, contain toxic substances or illegal Class A drugs, such as escstasy or cocaine.
Mr Corrigan believes the products are transforming a drugs market previously dominated by big illegal products that were taken by older men and women familiar with their habits.
