Former legal high user speaks out about dangers

A former legal high drug addict has spoken out about the dangers of the freely-available drugs and how they nearly ruined his life.

The former addict, who has not been named but has been given the pseudonym Lee, has asked for the substances to be banned on a permanent basis. His call comes at a time when drugs services claim to be “fire fighting” and are finding themselves unable to cope with the increasing popularity of the drugs. Lee, 22, from Blackpool, claims that legal high drugs will, at some point, be the cause of death for someone in the area unless the government moves to implement a blanket ban.

He said: “The shops shouldn’t be allowed to sell it. It’s taking people’s lives and it’s going to start taking more because it’s just getting stronger and stronger. I was a cannabis user before but I couldn’t get any in prison. I was offered [legal high] Spice instead – it was all over the place. You smoke it like cannabis but it has a totally different effect. You’re on another planet and speaking to people that aren’t there.”

Lee said legal high drugs were readily available in prison and that whilst he was incarcerated he was taking them every day ‒ sometimes multiple times a day. He continued to use legal highs after his release, believing they would not show up in standard drugs tests at his place of work. Lee is no longer a drug user.