Legal Highs: the New Face of Drug

Addiction
The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) released a
report in September 2013 showing that
alcohol and drug addiction in the U costs
the countr! some "3# billion annuall!$ Some
belie%e that legalising certain drugs would
help b! allowing regulation and ta&ation to
ta'e place$ (owe%er) that onl! sol%es one
aspect of the problem$ *aising mone! from
the drug trade does not put an end to the
human toll of abuse and addiction$
+or e%idence) one needs loo' no further than the new face of drug addiction, legal
highs$ The same CSJ report from last !ear suggests -ust o%er ./ of !oung people
between the ages of 10 and 21 ha%e used legal highs) also 'nown as 2new
ps!choacti%e substances2$ Rehab clinics are seeing a stead! increase in the number
of patients the! are treating for addiction to these products$
A Shade of Grey
The U has long had di3cult! dealing with the 4ow of illicit drugs li'e heroin and
crac'$ The CSJ report claims that the U has the highest rate of opiate addiction in
5urope and the highest rate of lifetime amphetamine use$ 6egal highs are onl! ma'ing
the problem worse b! occup!ing a gre! area of the law that ma'es them much more
di3cult to control$ That gre! area can be found in the term 7legal highs8 itself$
The substances we are tal'ing about here are s!nthetic drugs that are manufactured
to mimic the e9ects of illicit drugs while still being chemicall! di9erent$ The
di9erences allow them to be legall! sold on the open mar'et because the! are not
classi:ed has controlled substances$ ;e%ertheless) there is a catch, the drugs cannot
be sold for human consumption$
<anufacturers get around the restriction b! labelling their products as plant food or
bath salts$ (ead shops and other retailers operate the same wa!$ Unfortunatel!) the
nation2s drug rehab clinics do not ha%e that lu&ur!$ The! are dealing :rst=hand with the
e9ects of the new ps!choacti%e substances on a dail! basis$
Manufacturing and Sales
>etting a handle on the legal high problem re?uires us to address the manufacture
and sale of the substances$ This includes a robust online mar'et that has made the
postal ser%ice and unwitting partner in drug tra3c'ing$ @nce again) the U leads
5urope in the online trade of legal highs$ Aet one must as') where are the :nancial
bene:tsB
Ct is all well and good to sa! we should legalise parts of the drug trade in order to
reduce the :nancial cost of abuse and addiction$ (owe%er) if new ps!choacti%e
substances are an! indication) legalisation onl! stands to ma'e the problem worse$ Cf
we are going to legalise some illicit drugs) we should be prepared for drug and alcohol
rehab clinics to need more funds for treatment D and that could wipe out an!
:nancial gain realised from legalisation$