Shopkeeper refuses to stop selling legal highs

A Leicester shopkeeper has refused a request by police and officials from Trading Standards to stop selling legal highs.

Tejinder Reehal, who owns Scorpion in Narborough Road, Leicester, has refused to take the psychoactive substances off her shelves until they become illegal. This refusal comes after the police and Trading Standards officials wrote to several shopkeepers in the Leicester area requesting that they cease trading in the dangerous drugs, which can be sold in the form of powders, herbal smoking mixes and pills. Some of the products in Scorpion have wording that states ‘not for human consumption’, ‘research chemicals’ and ‘novelty collector’s item’, which allows them to be sold legally.

The letter warned that some of the products can result in fatalities and that some may contain poisonous chemicals and even traces of illegal drugs. Despite the controversy surrounding the legal highs, only a few have actually been banned under the Misuse of Drug Acts.

Mrs Reehal said: “I only serve people who are over 18 and I give them a safety leaflet. My customers know exactly what they want and what is going to happen. I don’t force anyone to come into my shop to buy these products and once the customer leaves my shop, what they do with these products is their choice. If they are banned I will stop selling them, but while they are still legal I will carry on.”

The letter from the police is the start of a campaign to raise awareness about the dangers of legal highs.