Home Office makes ‘legal highs’ Class B drugs

Some of the most notorious ‘legal highs’ are to be made Class B drugs, the Home Office announced today, with users facing a possible five-year jail term.

The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), an independent body of advisory experts that informs the government on latest narcotic research, recommended prohibiting the substances on account of the health risks and social harms caused by their usage.

Synthetic cannabinoids such as ‘Black Mamba’, o-desmethyltramadol and methoxetamine, also known as Mexxy and subjected to the first temporary drug class order (TCDO) in Britain since the powers were adopted in November 2011, will be classified as illegal under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.

Minister for Crime Prevention Jeremy Browne said: “High quality scientific advice is vital to the government`s ongoing work to tackle harmful drug use. The independent advice we receive from the ACMD is critical to our evidence-based drugs policy.

“The UK is addressing the harm caused by ‘legal highs’ by outlawing not just individual drugs, but whole families of related substances that have the potential to cause serious harm.

“People who take ‘legal highs’ are taking serious risks with their lives because often they do not know what they are taking and the drugs may contain harmful substances.”

Methoxetamine will remain banned until the permanent reclassification comes into force, while the other substances will become prohibited when legislation becomes active in the coming months.