UK - Mother of Exeter teenager who almost died from taking legal highs calls for law

[edgarshade]

Express & Echo

By Exeter Express and Echo | Posted: December 07, 2013

With reader comments

A MOTHER from Exeter whose young daughter almost died because of her addiction to ‘legal highs’ has led calls for a crackdown on the industry. A judge has ordered two shopkeepers Simon Tomlin and Paris Newton to pay more than £210,000 in fines, costs and confiscation orders after they admitted having banned substances at their shops. The penalties imposed at Exeter Crown Court came at the end of a long legal battle which is seen by the police to be a key test case in their efforts to control the industry in designer drugs. Tomlin and Newton were co-directors of one of the region’s biggest legal high businesses and ran shops in Exeter, Exmouth, Torquay and Taunton.

“I know what they were prosecuted for selling illegal substances but we need to look at the issue as a whole. They are bringing out new ones all the time to get around the legislation. We are distraught as parents. There is support for the young person if they admit they have a problem. The stumbling block here is they don’t see that they have a problem. There needs to be government legislation and they need to use this case to start clamping down. You only have to look at their website and it is quite obvious what they are selling it for. It is so stressful and very upsetting and we really need to build some momentum on the back of this case."

(Link deleted - just realised it mentions vendor name)

 

[TheRapperGoneBad]

They wouldn't bring out new ones if drugs were legal and people weren't exploting loopholes threw shady black markets with unregulated products and sellers who have no care for there product or customers.. Its good to see she atleast understands this and will publish it.

Dear mother,
Your daughter almost died because she irresponibly indulged in an unknow substance. Is that really a surprise.

Education is key knowledge is power!

 

[MagickalKat777]

I think it should be mentioned that the "legal highs" in question here were BZP and TFMPP. This case started back in 2010 but has just now been resolved. BZP and TFMPP were banned in 2009 and they continued to sell them post ban.

The illegal drugs were almost six kilograms and 126 tablets of a mixture of two chemicals called BZP (benzopiperazine) and TFMPP (triflouromethypiperazine). When combined they make up a designer drug which has a number of street names.

This case is specifically interesting because of this statement from the judge which will definitely set a precedent for future legal highs cases:

He said:”I very much doubt if your customers were gardeners or research chemists. This was a cynical and very transparent attempt to hide the fact there was something questionable about these products without saying so.

 

[ValentinoSix]

Legislation appears to be the engine of innovation as far as novel marketing of novel chemicals goes. In the past century, the demonization of amphetamines led to the popularization of cocaine. The demonization of cocaine in the 1980s led to what media outlets inaccurately described as a "meth epidemic" in the 1990s. The demonization of meth (while creating a once-in-a-lifetime marketing opportunity for "legitimate" amphetamine producers) led to a rise in popularity of other synthetics in the 2000s. The demonization of these synthetics, according to some sources, is leading to far more dangerous synthetics. When those are publicly demonized, I wonder what will rush in to fill their void in society.

They wouldn't bring out new ones if drugs were legal and people weren't exploting loopholes threw shady black markets with unregulated products and sellers who have no care for there product or customers.. Its good to see she atleast understands this and will publish it.

Dear mother,
Your daughter almost died because she irresponibly indulged in an unknow substance. Is that really a surprise.

Education is key knowledge is power!