Legal highs

What are legal highs?

The term legal high is used for any drug taken recreationally that is not yet a banned substance (controlled drug). It covers a variety of herbal and plant products, synthetic chemical compounds and even gases such as nitrous oxide (laughing gas).

Many substances are sold as legal highs - most commonly over the internet, on the street or in clubs - offering the purchaser a range of drug experiences on the basis of the substance being legal.

The buyer may assume that the substance is legal and therefore also safe. However, neither may be true. The manufacture and sale of these drugs is not regulated or standardised. Any drug made or sold in this way will not have gone through the testing and investigation pharmaceutical products are subjected to - you cannot be sure of a legal high's strength or dosage, or even that you're getting what is offered. You may end up swallowing or snorting white powder without having any way of knowing exactly what it contains, legal or illegal.

Legal highs are often sold as 'research chemicals' or plant food, with the dealers trying to get round the law by labelling substances are not for human consumption. Even where their chemical content is clear, the full effect of such drugs is poorly understood, especially their interaction with other drugs or with prescribed medications.

Most drugs that are now illegal were once freely available as legal highs. As their effects and risks became better understood, they were banned.

Misuse of Drugs Act

This Act divides drugs into three classes: A, B and C. Class A drugs are considered the most dangerous and Class C as the least harmful.

Class A drugs include heroin, crack, cocaine, ecstasy, LSD, methadone, metamphetamine (crystal meth), magic mushrooms (containing the hallucinogenic chemical psilocin) and any Class B drug that is injected.

Class B drugs include cannabis, amphetamines, barbiturates and codeine.

Class C drugs include mild amphetamines, ketamine, anabolic steroids and minor Tranquilisers.

The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) is an independent body of experts, including pharmacologists, plant specialists, doctors, mental health specialists, police and lawyers. Their aim is to advise the government on drug-related issues in the UK, in particular providing recommendations with regards to classifying drugs that pose a risk to public health, thereby making their sale or use illegal.

An example of their activity is the recent classing of mephedrone and naphyrone as Group B drugs following studies of their effects and usage.

Illegal drug manufacturers are constantly producing new products to use as legal highs until they are investigated and reclassified as banned substances. MDAI (5,6-methylenedioxy-2-aminoindane), a synthetic chemical that replicates the effects of ecstasy, is emerging as the latest legal high.