Report
from the BBC showing why forcing people into trying completely untried drugs is
not the answer...
Deaths linked to legal highs may just be the first signs of
the damage they do, according to a medical expert.
In
total 43 people in the UK died after taking now-outlawed methcathinones in
2010, the National Programme on Substance Abuse Deaths said.
This
compared with five deaths in 2009, its report said.
But
Dr Owen Bowden-Jones, founder of the Club Drug Clinic at Chelsea and
Westminster Hospital, said: "We may just be seeing the tip of the
iceberg."
A
BBC investigation revealed untested chemicals were being sold in London.
"The
concern I have is that in two or three years, we'll begin to see the
consequences of the harm that's going on now,"
'Unknown
risks'
Dr
John Ramsey, a toxicologist at St George's Hospital, described how there are
dozens of types of untested and sometimes deadly chemicals that are being sold
legally in London.
"We
put a urinal in Wardour Street in Soho and found 60 different drugs in
there," he said.
"I
think these are probably the first people who have taken these compounds.
"They've
never been evaluated as drugs anywhere in the world before," he added.
"They
can't possibly know the risks of the compounds they're taken."
He
described how "these things are made in China, shipped over here, a kid
buys a gram and takes it".
As
part of its investigation, BBC Inside Out legally ordered £640 of chemicals
from China, packaged in a bag labelled: "Harmful if swallowed. May damage
an unborn child. Avoid breathing dust and fumes. If exposed, call a poison
centre".
Experts
told the programme these are the type of chemicals that are sold in 1g bags for
£15 each in London - meaning the £640 of chemicals from China could have a
London street value of £15,000.
'Kids
dying'
Association
of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) drugs spokesman Tim Hollis said: "Kids are
sending around party invites with a link on where to buy your drugs.
"The
Home Office and police find that extremely difficult to get our heads around
and we are flat footed."
Some of the drugs have now been banned but new ones keep
appearing
Baroness
Molly Meacher, of the Parliamentary Drug Policy Group, said: "The UK
Border Agency has got great hangars full of little packets of white powder.
"They
just simply haven't got the technology, they haven't got the money, they
haven't got the resources.
"They
don't know what's in all those packages."
“Start
Quote
I went in to Tesco naked and
assaulted a police officer - they asked me what are you on? ”
The
Metropolitan Police and UK Border Agency (UKBA) declined to be interviewed by
BBC Inside Out.
But
Dr Ramsey said: "Controlling substances... all it does is spawn the
production of one that isn't controlled.
"We're
damned if we do and damned if we don't."
Katie
Wilson, 19, from east London, described her experience of taking now banned
drug Benzo Fury.
"I
got a lot of euphoria, happiness, I presumed like ecstasy," she said.
"After the Benzo had worn off, I swore I was going to die."
"I
went in to Tesco naked and assaulted a police officer.
"They
asked me what sort are you on? Heroin? Crack? Crystal meth?"
Maryon
Stewart's daughter Hester died after taking the now banned substance GBL.
Ms
Stewart has since set up the Angelas Foundation, which highlights the risks of
legal highs.
"There
are kids dying every week. The youngest I've heard of is 14 years old,"
she said.
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