UK’s country areas see surge in legal high use

A new police survey shows that rural areas in the UK have fallen victim to some of the largest increases in the use of legal highs.

The new figures released by the police show that incidents involving the use of legal high drugs have increased by more than 100% in just one year. The data comes from the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) and reveals that during 2014 there were 3,652 incidents involving legal highs, compared to 1,356 incidents in 2013. Rural areas of the UK were discovered to have some of the highest numbers.These statistics are known to be understating the issue, as just 12 police forces out of 39 in the country supplied data to the CSJ. The largest police force in the country, the Metropolitan Police, did not supply data.

Lincolnshire was shown to have experienced the highest number of legal high-related incidents, recording 820. Hampshire also saw a massive surge ‒ just nine legal high-related incidents were reported to the police in the 2011, compared to 403 in 2014. These trends have been mirrored in South Yorkshire and Norfolk, with the former experiencing a four-fold increase and the latter a 13-fold increase in legal high-related incidents.

Christian Guy, director of the CSJ, said, “As well as posing worrying health risks, these figures suggest ‘legal highs’ are placing increasing pressure on public services. It is too easy for young people to walk into high street shops and buy these drugs – many of them as dangerous and addictive as class A substances.”