Legal highs ban threatens hundreds of ‘head shops’ with closure

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jun/08/legal-highs-ban-closure-head-shops

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More than 450 high-street “head shops” and online sellers of legal highs face closure across Britain under the blanket ban on new psychoactive substances to be debated in parliament on Tuesday.

The first Home Office estimate of the extent of the trade in legal highs, which are to be banned from April next year, also describes it as an industry making a 40% profit of £32m a year on an annual turnover of £82m.

The psychoactive substances bill, which is to receive its second reading in the House of Lords on Tuesday, is designed to ban the trade in legal highs, probably from April next year. The legislation includes exemptions for everyday legitimate psychoactive substances including alcohol, tobacco and caffeine and is also expected to include an exemption for legitimate medical and scientific research.

The ban will cover a range of synthetic chemical substances designed to mimic traditional illegal drugs such as cannabis and ecstasy and will extend to cover nitrous oxide – laughing gas or “hippy crack” – the second most popular recreational drug in Britain.

Related: Laughing gas sales to be outlawed in government's legal highs clampdown

The Home Office impact assessment published alongside the bill reveals there is no existing test that the police can use to confirm if a seized substance qualifies under the ban as psychoactive.

Home Office scientific researchers and the government’s advisory council for the misuse of drugs have been asked to tackle the problem of finding an accepted methodology for a testing kit.

The Home Office has also addressed the controversial question of the number of deaths that can be linked to legal highs or new psychoactive substances. Some have claimed that as many as 173 deaths in England, Wales and Scotland in 2013 could be linked to legal highs.

But the official impact assessment says that in only 29 of these cases were legal highs the sole substance involved. The Home Office estimates that the blanket ban could lead to 12 fewer deaths each year across Britain and about 190 fewer hospital admissions.

The estimate of the size of the legal highs market is the first indication of the scale of the industry that faces closure as a result of the ban. The Home Office estimate that based on police and local authority sources there are about 335 high street ”head shops” for whom legal highs is a main source of income. On top of this there are a further 115 UK-based websites offering them for sale online.

The Home Office says there are a further 210 smaller suppliers of legal highs including tattoo parlours, sex shops and newsagents for whom the trade is not a major source of income but which will also be hit by the ban.

Officials expect that up to 50 prosecutions and closure orders will take place in the first year of the ban, but experience of the 2010 ban in Ireland suggests the bulk of the headshop industry is likely to comply without action being taken against them.

The bill is expected to receive widespread support in its second reading in the House of Lords on Tuesday. But Lady Meacher, of the all-party parliamentary group for drug policy reform, is expected to warn that the blanket ban will lead to young people turning back to street dealers or the internet, and will not reduce their overall use.

Mike Penning, the Home Office minister for policing, believes the ban will prove effective. “The legislation will apply to both online and offline markets and give police, other law enforcement agencies and local authorities the power to take action where necessary,” he said.

“We will also continue our wider work to ensure internet providers comply with the law and shut down UK-based websites if they are found to be unlawful, as well as working with international partners to tackle the supply globally.”