Dan Jarvis – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2014-03-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps she has taken to help local authorities control the sale of legal highs.

Norman Baker

In December 2013 the Home Office published guidance for local authorities which sets out the range of legislative tools they can use to tackle the ‘head shops’
where legal highs are often sold. This was developed in collaboration with the Department for Communities and Local Government, the Local Government Association and the Trading Standards Institute. The guidance covers offences head shops may be committing under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, the Intoxicating Substances (Supply) Act 1985, and various consumer protection regulations.

The Home Office also provides local authorities and their trading standards officers with technical and financial support with drug testing through the Forensic Early Warning System. This supports local authorities in their action against the sale of legal highs by helping them to identify the contents of legal high products. To date, we have brought well over 250 substances under control through the use of ‘generic’ legislation and temporary class drug orders. We also work closely with law enforcement to tackle this reckless trade. Concerted action, started in November 2013, has so far resulted in over 40 arrests and seizures of new psychoactive substances, including 9 kilograms by Kent Police.

Last summer we also ran a targeted communications campaign to raise awareness of the risks in taking new psychoactive substances amongst young people; providing information on these substances through our FRANK online service.

However, we accept that more can be done, hence my announcement on 12 December 2013 of a review by an expert panel to look at how the UK’s response to new psychoactive substances can be enhanced beyond the existing measures. The expert panel includes a senior policy advisor from the Local Government Association to inform the work of the panel from a local government perspective. The panel is due to report its recommendations by the end of spring 2014.