A new ‘blanket ban’ on ‘legal highs’ will offer councils and police more powers to tackle psychoactive substances, the government has said.
Following months of campaigning by local authorities, ministers are due to publish draft laws they describe as ‘landmark’ action that will end the ‘game of cat and mouse’ which has seen new drugs appearing faster than government can identify and ban them.
The Pyschoactive Substances Bill – announced in the Queen’s Speech this week – will prohibit production, sale and distribution of ‘any substance intended for human consumption that is capable of producing a psychoactive effect’ apart from substances including alcohol, tobacco and medicinal drugs.
Dealers could face a maximum prison sentence of seven years.
The Bill will permit councils and the police to issue prohibition notices or prohibition orders in response to the supply of psychoactive substances.
Councils have consistently demanded stronger powers to combat the use of legal highs, which were involved in 120 deaths in England, Scotland and Wales over 2013.
The Local Government Association has said an outright ban would ‘rightly enable the closure of “head shops”’ where substances are sold and ‘protect the public from devastating consequences’ of their use.
Lincoln City Council recently became the first town hall to ban people from publicly taking legal highs in the city centre, taking action against 81 people during the first month of the prohibition.
Minister of state for policing, crime, criminal justice and victims, Mike Penning, said: ‘Young people who take these substances are taking exceptional risks with their health and those who profit from their sale have a complete disregard for the potential consequences. That’s why we are targeting the suppliers.
‘The landmark bill will fundamentally change the way we tackle new psychoactive substances - and put an end to the game of cat and mouse in which new drugs appear on the market more quickly than government can identify and ban them.
‘The blanket ban will give police and other law enforcement agencies greater powers to tackle the reckless trade in psychoactive substances, instead of having to take a substance-by-substance approach.’
Responding to the news, chief executive of the Royal Society for Public Health, Shirley Cramer, said: 'We are delighted that the UK will finally be following in the steps of Ireland which has seen huge reductions in use of legal highs since the ban came into force.
'We are particularly pleased the ban will bring an end to the sale of legal highs on the high street which only served to normalise drug use and increase their accessibility to the young and impressionable.'
