Blanket ban on legal highs in England and Wales to begin on 26 May
Home Office says the delayed ban will outlaw trade in legal highs although not their possession outside a prison
Thursday, May 5, 2016
The delayed blanket ban on legal highs in England and Wales is to come into force on 26 May, the Home Office has confirmed. The introduction of the Psychoactive Substances Act was originally due to come into force on 6 April, but was delayed following claims its definition of “psychoactivity” was not practically enforceable by the police and prosecutors. The legislation is designed to outlaw the trade in legal highs, synthetic chemicals that imitate the effects of traditional illicit drugs such as cannabis and ecstasy, but does not make their possession outside a prison a criminal offence. The introduction of similar legislation in Ireland triggered a wave of closures of shops and online outlets, although few prosecutions have followed due to difficulties proving in Irish law whether a substance is psychoactive.
