- Banning all so-called legal highs would keep the Island ahead of the game, says Michael Gafoor, head of the Alcohol and Drug Service
- He warned that new legal highs are appealing on an almost weekly basis
- A new legal high, Vertex, has been linked with the case of a hospitalised 16-year-old girl in Liverpool
- Should Jersey blanket-ban all ‘legal highs’? Take part in our poll below
A BLANKET ban on all so-called legal highs would prevent the Island from having to play catch-up when a new substance enters the market, the head of Jersey’s Alcohol and Drug Service says.
Michael Gafoor, who sits on the Misuse of Drugs Advisory Council, said that different new psychoactive substances – as legal highs are otherwise known – are appearing on the market ‘on an almost weekly basis’.
During her speech following the opening of Parliament, the Queen outlined MPs’ plans for a potential Psychoactive Substances Bill which could carry prison sentences of up to seven years in the UK.
Mr Gafoor said that the Misuse of Drugs Advisory Council would be monitoring developments in the UK before a decision was made.
Dr Susan Turnbull, Jersey’s Medical Officer of Health who is also a member of the council, told the JEP last month that effective generic legislation had not yet been achieved anywhere in the world but that it was their goal to stay one step ahead of the drugs market.
Last week police in Merseyside issued a warning that a new psychoactive substance known as Vertex had left a 16-year-old girl seriously ill in hospital.
The drug is also being linked with another three hospital admissions in Warrington.
Mr Gafoor said he was not aware of Vertex being used in Jersey, but he reaffirmed his stance on a blanket ban. ‘A blanket ban would envelope all kinds of new psychoactive substances, thereby avoiding the need to play catch-up by simply banning individual substances which appear almost on a weekly basis,’ he said.
‘Jersey’s drug legislation tends to mirror the UK, and our Misuse of Drugs Advisory Council will be monitoring developments in the UK before making a decision.’
LEGAL highs first made the headlines in the Island in 2008 after they were sold at a stand at the Jersey Live festival.
A number of festival-goers, including teenagers, were hospitalised after snorting and smoking ‘herbal highs’.
They included three 15-year-olds, a 14-year-old and one 17-year-old who were openly smoking and snorting legal highs in front of police officers.
Dr Susan Turnbull, who was then Jersey’s deputy Medical Officer of Health, launched an immediate investigation.
