Drug advisers depart as report shows Britain is drug hotspot

Last month an 18 year old girl was with friends at a car park on the outskirts of Edinburgh when, after inhaling gas from a lighter, she collapsed and later died in hospital.

Solvent abuse, such as sniffing glue, inhaling gas from aerosols, is considered a “very hidden” issue by, Marina Clayton, Scotland's development manager for Re-Solve a charity which aims to tackle solvent abuse.

“What is more innocuous than a couple of aerosols in a schoolbag? Legal but lethal, it's almost impossible to control the products of abuse,” said Ms Clayton.

The problem is expected to get worse according to the European drugs agency who, in their annual report published last Thursday, said that anti-drug campaigners face the difficulty of trying to “hit a moving target” with the current influx of legal highs.

The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) report, The State of the Drugs Problem in Europe, showed a “worrying” rise in the use of “legal-highs”.

The report was published less than a week after the Home Secretary, Alan Johnson, asked the senior independent drug adviser to the government, Professor David Nutt, to resign after he openly disagreed with government policy on cannabis.

His dismissal was followed by the protest resignation by two of his colleagues, Marion Walker and Dr Les King.

Dr King and Prof Nutt were both due to attend a public meeting of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs on 10 November.

This meeting was later closed off to the public due to “a lot of interest” and to “avoid disruption” according to a Home Office spokesperson.

Dr King's is the UK's leading authority on synthetic drug compounds, such as Spice a herbal smoke.

Only days after his resignation the EMCDDA report revealed the lack of efficacy of government policy in tackling new “sophisticated” drug markets – as seen in the proliferation of websites offering “legal alternatives”.

They offer substances that are sold legally but not for human consumption, including plant feed, forms of steroids and chemical solvents.

Earlier this year the government put forward a proposal to control a handful of substances, considered to be legal highs: Gamma-Butyrolactone (chemical solvent); synthetic cannabinoids (often sprayed on tobacco and called “spice”) and Benzylpiperazine (an alternative to amphetamine).

The decision to bring the stimulants under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1974 was influenced by the, recently renounced Prof. Nutt, who said that they “were dangerous drugs, especially when mixed with alcohol”.

Legal highs are sold predominantly over the internet and Britain has emerged as a primary source of legal high retailers.

A survey carried out in 2009 of 115 online shops in 17 European countries showed the majority, 37 percent, were based in the UK, while Germany and the Netherlands hosted 15 and 14 percent respectively.

Director of EMCDDA, Wolfgang Götz, said that legal highs were not new, but rather better marketing techniques, the use of the internet and “intentional mislabelling” of vital information have led to a quick growth.

Mr Götz said that legislation was now keeping up to pace with the of change of products on the market:

“If Spice is a taste of things to come,” Mr Götz wrote, “Europe will need to ensure that its responses are adequate to tackle this growing challenge.”

EMCDDA carry out studies throughout the year with a team made up of up to 80 specialists from across 20 nationalities, their findings influence drug policy within the EU membership.

22 year old Jay who works in Edinburgh and is a regular user of legal highs, sold as organic plant fertilisers, told The Journal that he preferred them to illegal highs as they removed the “fear of getting caught”.

“At the moment, illegal drugs are more expensive and more risky.”

He says that within his circle of friends there is little worry that alternatives will come along to replace the soon to be banned substances.

A representative for Scottish Drug Forum told The Journal, that banning these substances can, at the very least, warn people that they take a risk if they chose to use them.

“Keeping on top of the recreational drug culture—especially with the ever increasing number of substances becoming available—will always provide a real challenge for the drugs field.

"Providing accurate and credible information about these and all drugs is a key priority.”

Ms Clayton however, said that Re-Solve placed impartial advice above that of value-laden educational information.

She said: “Often, the rationale for inaction is 'if we tell them, they'll try it'. That way, they only get partial facts though, and therein lies the danger.”

In August of this year a report jointly funded by the Scottish government and University of Glasgow estimated the national and local prevalence of problem drugs in Scotland.

The report found that around 1.6 percent (55,500 people) of those aged between 15 and 64 were abusing opiates or benzodiazepines, which are described as forms of heroin or anti-depressants.

The report criticised the “drug information infrastructure” in Scotland, information is not held centrally by one body, as happens in England.

It said that “most concerning” was “the fact that nobody has a clear idea” of the number of drug users in treatment.