'Legal' highs

[MrJan]

This might sail a bit close to the wind for a family forum so I understand if Mark or mods want to chop it out, however the emphasis is on the legal part.

I watched a programme on BBC Three the other night which looked at products which can have similar effects to illegal drugs but are available over the counter (Spice is one brand which has been in the news recently). Essentially though it's all pretty scary stuff which just skirts around the drug laws. For example the presenter (George Lamb, who does a radio show in 6 Music) mapped out the chemical make up of MDMA which is the key ingredient of Ecstasy. Simply by adding an extra Oxygen atom it alters it so that basically it won't be covered by the misuse of drugs act. Additionally the packet can be marked as 'not for human consumption' which gets it through another boundary so that it can be fast tracked to retailers. The problem with this is that it hasn't been tested and no one really knows the long term effects that this stuff could have, especially as a lot of it is pretty powerful. I think that at one point an interviewee said that illegal drugs like MDMA are safer because it's a formula which has been around for a long time.

Anyway as part of the show the bloke did actually try something (after a pretty rigourous medical and physcological check up) and smoked something called Salvia (sp??) through a bong. To begin with he said that he felt nothing but on the third hit you could see the effect it had as he basically looked really high. It was sort of buzzy and despite having spent years doing all sorts of nasty stuff in the music industry it knocked him for 6 but within a few minutes he was back down.

So this rather long winded post comes down to some simple points. What are people's opinions on it all, is it all hype over nothing or a serious case of some nasty products being sold without regulation? And has anyone ever tried a 'legal' high like this (e.g Spice, that Salvia stuff, NOS or the like)?

To me it all sounds pretty dangerous (even though some are created from natural plants etc.) but is fairly intriguing nonetheless.

[Mark]

Most illegal drugs are created from 'natural' plants too, doesn't mean they aren't harmful.

[Daniel]

This might sail a bit close to the wind for a family forum so I understand if Mark or mods want to chop it out, however the emphasis is on the legal part.

I watched a programme on BBC Three the other night which looked at products which can have similar effects to illegal drugs but are available over the counter (Spice is one brand which has been in the news recently). Essentially though it's all pretty scary stuff which just skirts around the drug laws. For example the presenter (George Lamb, who does a radio show in 6 Music) mapped out the chemical make up of MDMA which is the key ingredient of Ecstasy. Simply by adding an extra Oxygen atom it alters it so that basically it won't be covered by the misuse of drugs act. Additionally the packet can be marked as 'not for human consumption' which gets it through another boundary so that it can be fast tracked to retailers. The problem with this is that it hasn't been tested and no one really knows the long term effects that this stuff could have, especially as a lot of it is pretty powerful. I think that at one point an interviewee said that illegal drugs like MDMA are safer because it's a formula which has been around for a long time.

Anyway as part of the show the bloke did actually try something (after a pretty rigourous medical and physcological check up) and smoked something called Salvia (sp??) through a bong. To begin with he said that he felt nothing but on the third hit you could see the effect it had as he basically looked really high. It was sort of buzzy and despite having spent years doing all sorts of nasty stuff in the music industry it knocked him for 6 but within a few minutes he was back down.

So this rather long winded post comes down to some simple points. What are people's opinions on it all, is it all hype over nothing or a serious case of some nasty products being sold without regulation? And has anyone ever tried a 'legal' high like this (e.g Spice, that Salvia stuff, NOS or the like)?

To me it all sounds pretty dangerous (even though some are created from natural plants etc.) but is fairly intriguing nonetheless.

Interesting. Is it on iPlayer?

[MrJan]

Most illegal drugs are created from 'natural' plants too, doesn't mean they aren't harmful.

The problem being that they are then chemically altered or adapted to maximise the high. Modern stuff like skunk is a hell of a lot stronger than years ago because the aim is to get as much THC as possible (I think that's what it is anyway, the few times I've tried smoking it has been just an unpleasant experience and not one I wish to have again so not something I know much about). I believe that there are 'party pills' out there which are much closer to the natural/herbal nature

Anyway the programem is on iPlayer until 14th September http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode..._High_Legally/

[Daniel]

Major wtf. Watching it now and can't believe people would take this .

[MrJan]

Major wtf. Watching it now and can't believe people would take this .

Because they can give a similar feeling to normal drugs but can be bought legally? Most people take a fair risk when they take illegal drugs so don't consider the risk as big when using over the counter stuff. THe programme makes it pretty clear that it can be dangerous stuff though

[Daniel]

Of course but it's still a stupid risk to take

[Robinho]

and are being made illegal by the end of the year, albeit there will likely be new compunds providing the same hits pretty shortly after.

i think the authorities have been way too slow in testing and banning these substances, we'll see if they have learnt anything and combat the next stream any more effectively.

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