MPs have warned the Legislation to ban new psychoactive substances in the UK to be rushed. BBC UK reports that according to MPs, the past governments' spending on education about the dangers of so-called legal highs had been shockingly inadequate up to the present. New psychoactive substances (NPS) are products chemically designed to mimic drugs that are already banned. 67 deaths in England and Wales during last year were linked to their use.
Blanket ban
Psychoactive drugs can alter your state of mind, your consciousness, even your moods and surprisingly your thoughts. As some would say, this type of drugs is just a fancy name for some of the well known substances such as cannabis, alcohol, cocaine, heroin, and amphetamines. They have been typically known as the "legal highs", but in most cases they had only remained lawful because there had been no scientific testing that has happened. One hundred NPS products were identified across EU last year and the legislation going through Parliament will create a blanket ban on all of them and their successors. Based on a law from Ireland, these measures will replace the current system of banning substances one at a time.
However, according to the MPs, the Psychoactive Substances Bill was being rushed amid a lack of clarity over whether it'd work or not. The committee also said that it opposes plans to ban "poppers", a substance often used for recreation and commonly known as a "party drug".
Poppers, the name given to a group of chemicals called alkyl nitrites that are normally being sniffed from a bottle producing a short head-rush. Meanwhile, Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) concluded that the misuse of it was not considered to be capable of having damaging effects that are sufficient to constitute a societal problem.
