War against legal highs has begun
Legal highs are becoming a huge problem. Many children and young adults are naturally curious about drugs and assume that if a drug is legal it is safe. This belief has resulted in a new generation of drug abuse victims.
Legal highs can cause all manner of serious health problems and can affect the mind as well as the body. In one case recently reported by the Scarborough News, Tracey Smith spoke of her horror at discovering her nephew’s black and blue face after he had self-harmed after taking a legal high. In another case, Georgina Rowley’s son was diagnosed with “temporary insanity” after taking drugs. In both cases the substances were classed as legal and freely available.
A group of parents from Scarborough have set up a Facebook group known as ‘Parents Against Legal Highs’, which aims to kick such drugs out of the town. Alexa Neal, a mother who saw what the drugs did to her child, founded the group. Alexa says that the problem is reaching epidemic levels in Scarborough and the long-term health of a generation is at risk.
Unlike other forms of drug and alcohol abuse, legal highs affect people from all parts of society. Alexa said: “It’s children in Scarborough from every single walk of life who are taking these”. The mother understands drug abuse well; during the 1990s she was part of the rave scene and experimented with illegal drugs. However, she is convinced that legal highs are often more dangerous than their illegal counterparts.
The group’s prime aim is to persuade shops in Scarborough to stop selling the drugs; followed by encouraging the government to take a harder line on legal highs.
Tracey Smith says that after taking legal highs her nephew had “suicidal thoughts” and she, along with other parents in the town, have approached the shops directly in an effort to stop them selling the drugs to their children. Some parents have handed shopkeepers photos of their children so that they know who not to sell to. However, youngsters who want to get hold of the drugs will continue to do so, usually from their friends or dealers.
There are rumours that some drug dealers are now starting to sell legal highs in Scarborough; a sure sign that legal highs are becoming much more popular in the town and that the street dealers are losing business to the shops.
Currently there are no official figures on how many children are taking the drugs or what damage is being caused; however, Tracey knows of at least one young person who has died after taking them. What makes matters worse is that drug testing kits are often unable to identify the latest legal highs, so it is difficult to identify when there is a problem.
Police close down shop
The police have taken some action in Scarborough, by raiding one shop and seizing bags of legal highs and going on to arrest the owner on suspicion of selling legal highs to under 18s. However, other retailers continue to sell them.
Chief Inspector Mark Grange said that shop owners should be more responsible. He added that although the drugs are legal children are abusing them and an ethical shopkeeper should reconsider their business model. The Chief Inspector went on to say: “We all know why shop owners are selling them, but if you want to be a responsible shop owner then you shouldn’t be selling these to anybody.”
It appears that the war against legal highs may have started.