Prison drug tests fail to pick up dangerous legal high

Inspectors carrying out a review at a Bristol prison have discovered that a dangerous legal high drug has not been detected during routine prison drug tests.

The prison inspectors claim that a legal high drug known as Spice was not detected by the mandatory drug tests carried out at the Bristol prison. The synthetic drug, Spice, is highly popular amongst prison inmates and has been created to replicate the effects of cannabis. The Bristol prison registered seven hospital admissions in six months for prisoners who had taken the drug.

There have been several warnings about the dangers of legal high drugs recently in the wake of a statement by the government’s justice secretary, Chris Grayling. Mr Grayling is introducing new guidance for prison inspectors, meaning that they will have to extend the mandatory drug testing regimes currently in place so that legal high drugs and various uncontrolled substances will be detected.

The chief inspector of prisons, Nick Hardwick, confirmed that the Bristol prison had made improvements since its last inspection but commented that “some significant concerns remain and while some of these are outside the prison’s direct control, it is important this does not discourage the prison from making the further improvements that could be made.”

Michael Spurr, the CEO of the National Offender Management Service, stated that further improvements at the prison would be aided by the addition of 10 new prison officers later this month.