The Community Safety Minister will join police, health workers and youth organisations at a special event to tackle the problem of legal highs in Scotland. Those attending the event in Edinburgh on Wednesday will discuss how these substances are being sold and used across the country, assess the health issues associated with them and identify action to address their use. Legal highs are substances designed to produce similar effects to illegal drugs such as cocaine or ecstasy, but fall outwith the control of the UK Misuse of Drugs Act. A survey of several Scottish hospitals last summer showed that the number of young people needing emergency treatment after taking legal highs had more than trebled in a year. Meanwhile police called for the power to seize legal highs following the death of a teenager at the Rockness music festival in June last year. Alex Heriot, 19, from Edinburgh, is believed to have taken Benzo Fury, a drug easily found for sale on the internet.
Community Safety Minister Roseanna Cunningham said: "Despite a considerable amount of research into the effects of legal highs, much is still unknown about their longer-term impact. "It is crucial that experts and professionals can come together to fully explore the issues around these substances and their use and ensure we do all we can to stop their sale, reduce their demand and ensure our services are enabled to respond." She added: "Although reclassification of drugs is reserved to the UK Government, we already work with the Home Office and with the police in Scotland to identify and tackle the supply of new kinds of legal highs that threaten public health. This is a constantly evolving challenge due to the apparent ease with which legal highs can be produced and sold, and the continuing emergence of new drugs. "Sadly, all too often we have seen and heard about the tragic consequences of taking legal highs. This has only served to strengthen the Scottish Government's resolve to work with the police, health professionals and others to ensure we are fully equipped with the knowledge and understanding of these substances, to help prevent further tragedies."
