Pubdate: Wed, 06 Apr 2016
Source: Daily Telegraph (UK)
Copyright: 2016 Telegraph Media Group Limited
Contact:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/114

BRITAIN FACES LOSING BATTLE AGAINST LEGAL HIGHS, SAYS EU BODY

Theresa May, the Home Secretary, has been warned by the European 
Union's drugs agency that Britain's new blanket ban on so-called 
"legal highs" may not work.

The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) 
said it was "unlikely" that any new regime could stem the tide of 
designer drugs, which emulate the effects of controlled substances 
such as cannabis or heroin. It comes weeks before the Government's 
Psychoactive Substances Act becomes law.

More than 100 new legal highs were recorded by authorities last year 
and more than 560 are being monitored by the EMCDDA. "It is unlikely 
that any regulatory system can be designed to sufficiently limit the 
stream of new substances being manufactured without resorting to a 
ban on a huge range of chemicals," it said.
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