'Legal Highs'

[HBK-aholic]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/health/newsid_8090000/8090025.stm

Hundreds of internet sites and head shops around the UK now sell a bewildering variety of legal highs.



Most are little more than vitamin pills laced with high levels of caffeine or herbs containing the chemical ephedrine.


But a new generation of legal highs started to emerge a couple of years ago, many with effects more closely associated with stronger drugs like cannabis, ecstasy and cocaine.

I'd never heard of these so-called Legal Highs until I watched a BBC documentary on it a few weeks ago. I decided to do a little research on the matter, but the thing that scared me the most is that there isn't really much information at all on this new craze.

The people who use them seem to think they're completely safe. While that may be true, I don't think there's enough research done to be able to say this, and definitely not even done to ever sway me into wanting anything like this. The lack of information could prove vital in the long run - at one point everyone thought cigarettes were healthy, and look at the state of the nations health regarding cigarettes now.

The British government is looking to ban these drugs, or at least certain chemicals in them. Do you think this is fair? I think banning them is a good idea in general. Maybe not the ones simply with caffeine, as we know a lot about the effects of caffeine, but what do we know about the other drugs? Not a lot. Many of the people who use them believe they're safe simply due to their legal status. While I'm not naive enough to think that people would automatically stop using them if they becam illegal, I think it'd maybe show that they are possibly more dangerous than people like to think. At least until their effects are properly tested.

 

[Kip The Fury]

I watched that documentary, it was quite good. Basically its my impression that these highs are suuposed to offer the user the feeling of harder drugs but they arent as dangerous or addictive, in theory at least.

Two things struck me about these 'legal highs'

1) The lack of information about ingredients. Basically these pills give provide the feeling of taking illegal drugs without technically being illegal. These things could contain all kinds of dangerous crap but the users would never know. Theres also not enough research conducted into these highs into the long term, or even short term, damage they do to the users health.

2) How easy it was to get round being banned or made illegal. Basically if these highs do get banned all the producers have to do is slightly change the formula and they can put it out the very next day as a brand new project.

Personally i think legal highs are a good idea, but they need much stronger controls from the government or some other regulatory body. Research into effects on health, ingredients etc. Ban the more dangerous chemicals but apart from that once people know what they're taking and the effect they'll have on them why not, its their body.

 

[Spunky]

I also saw this show, And it's quite scary how these people are so care free about putting these into their bodies, And most don't know what the hell they are taking. I'd rather people take the better known illegal drugs that are around, At least people can be treated if they OD on speed. How can people be treated if they are taking things that have chemicals in, That most sciencest have never come across?

The quicker these chemicals are banned, And researched the better. It could save alot of lives, And even if it didn't at least we would be educated on them.

 

[X]

I'd never heard of these so-called Legal Highs until I watched a BBC documentary on it a few weeks ago. I decided to do a little research on the matter, but the thing that scared me the most is that there isn't really much information at all on this new craze.

It's not a new craze. The legal herbal highs industry has been around for decades. The majority of the products they sell are marketed as "cannabis substitutes", usually a combination of marginally potent legal (and completely harmless) herbs. That article you posted though is talking about drugs such as ephedrine, which has been monitored by the government in the US for years now. It's basically a step below speed, but the overwhelming majority of the "legal highs" industry doesn't involve ephedrine.

The people who use them seem to think they're completely safe. While that may be true, I don't think there's enough research done to be able to say this, and definitely not even done to ever sway me into wanting anything like this. The lack of information could prove vital in the long run - at one point everyone thought cigarettes were healthy, and look at the state of the nations health regarding cigarettes now.

There's been plenty of studies done into these drugs, especially the most popular one, salvia divinorum. None of these drugs pose any long-term health risks, none of the herbal ones at least.

The British government is looking to ban these drugs, or at least certain chemicals in them. Do you think this is fair?

Absolutely not. Banning drugs like salvia while condoning drugs like tobacco and alcohol is laughable. The only reason the UK wants to ban these substances is because they aren't profiting from them. That's literally the only reason. You think the government cares about whether or not their citizens are destroying their bodies with drugs? Not in the slightest.

I think banning them is a good idea in general. Maybe not the ones simply with caffeine, as we know a lot about the effects of caffeine, but what do we know about the other drugs? Not a lot.

Quite a bit actually. You can find literally hundreds and hundreds of studies done into most of these drugs online. The majority of them pose no long term health risks, none.

Many of the people who use them believe they're safe simply due to their legal status. While I'm not naive enough to think that people would automatically stop using them if they becam illegal, I think it'd maybe show that they are possibly more dangerous than people like to think. At least until their effects are properly tested.

The effects have been properly testing, where are you getting your information? It literally took me about 10 seconds to look up the health risks of a drug like Salvia. 10 seconds.

There's really absolutely no reason to ban these drugs other than the fact that the government isn't profiting from them. The overwhelming majority of the "legal highs" industry deals exclusively with herbs like salvia, damania, and kratom, all harmless drugs.

When it comes to the "legal ecstasy" or "legal speed" market though, that I will agree needs regulation. Alot of crap goes into those pills. That market is usually pretty distinctly separate from the "legal highs" industry which as I said usually deals with herbs that are meant for people who can't smoke pot but still want similar effects.

Probably the funniest thing about this entire scenario, is that the majority of these "legal high" drugs that are sold...DON'T ACTUALLY GET YOU HIGH! Just about every pot-imposter legal high herb that's sold will give you a 5 minute head ache, and that's it. It's a scam industry, always has been, always will be. The only herbal drugs they sell that will actually intoxicate you are drugs like the previous ones I mentioned, salvia, kratom, damania, etc.

 

[FromTheSouth]

Most of the legal high drugs have been tested. They have been tested for thousands of years. Salvia is a drug that has been used to make people see the "great spirit" for generations. It has been used to make people think they live in the Mushroom Kingdom too.

The legal pot has been advertised in High Times for as long as I can remember. I've seen it at stores that sell legal standing water tobacco pipes too.

Ephedrine is heavily regulated in the US. Truckers were using it to stay awake and drive twenty hour days. They were killing people. It's also an ingedient in meth. That didn't help it either.

But, most of the herbal drugs are substances that have been used by cultures since the beginning of civilization, and simply provide effects from relaxation or stress removal (like tobacco or wine) to hallucinations and epiphanies.

 

[Shadowmancer]

Legal highs are really weird, New Zealand had Party Pills for a long while these mainly contained a dose of BZP which is the main ingredient within the creation of Sheep Drench. This ended up getting banned within the last couple of years. I don't know what the new active ingredient is but I haven't heard anything good about it. Never tried the legal high, not even weed. But to get a happy feeling completely legally, drink Tequila, it is the only Alchohol that is an upper to the brain, rather than the downers of every other alchohol.

I like the idea of having legal highs but they should only be there to try to help people get off of Heroin, Cocaine and other harder drugs.

 

[Nitafrong]

While I agree with the overall point of the article- that these things need more testing and regulation applied, I personally (being that I come from a much more suspicious and paranoid disposition ), don't think that there should be as much emphasis placed upon the difference between legal and illegal drugs.

Now, I am not arguing that drug laws should be weakened but rather that our current laws seem to be more the result of cultural habits than any real well thought out policy towards drugs. I think most would agree that tobacco and alcohol even on their own cause more deaths and damage than anything else on the market by a huge extent. If one of the main arguments against marijuana has been that it is a drug that leads people on to other drugs then surely the same could be said for either alcohol or tobacco. Both cause highs, both can be addictive. If our society was different in its formation could marijuana easily replace either of these?

Many other legal drugs, such as the wide variety of anxiety pills, or even caffeine could have similar arguments applied to them (though of course these don't contribute anything like the numbers of death or damage. Some would argue the same for marijuana.)
Anyways as I said I am a fairly suspicious person and personally I believe that lots of what we input into our bodies is causing us harm. So.... I am not really sure what my overall point is here. I am not arguing that drugs should be legalised. Rather that I think its a bit hypocritical for people to roundly attack certain drugs and still imbue mass amounts of others which can cause similar if not greater levels of damage. (Or as the papers decided to tell us- Sun beds are as bad as cigarettes. Maybe we should ban them too )