Chemists are staying one step ahead of drug laws by toying with the chemical make-up of illegal stimulants such as ecstasy, speed and crystal meth to make an increasingly popular range of legal highs. Mike Power reports on the substances…
Tag Archive for New Psychoactive Substances
Druglink factsheet 2005 – Legal highs
Information on Salvia, Kratom, Epehdra, Peyote, Guarana, Magic mushrooms, Ipomoea (morning glory), Angel’s trumpet (Datura), Baby Hawaiian, Griffonia Factsheet – Legal highs (PDF)
Druglink article 2005 – Keeping tabs on the herbal highs by Andrea Wren
Legal highs such as the herb salvia are becoming a popular choice at ‘head’ shops because they offer a mellow, legal buzz. But, says Andrea Wren, drug services need to wise up because natural doesn’t necessarily mean safe. Keeping tabs…
Druglink article 2010 – Drug gangs boost cocaine purity to compete with internet highs by Max Daly
Drug gangs are stepping up the purity of cocaine in response to competition from the new generation of stimulants such as mephedrone, according to Britain’s organised crime agency. Analysis of police seizures between April last year and June this year reveals the average purity of powder…
Druglink article 2010 – An unchartered course by Jeremy Sare
Plans to introduce a temporary ban on new legal highs seem a logical step, but will navigate our drugs laws into unknown waters, claims Jeremy Sare An unchartered course (PDF)
Druglink article 2010 – Derry’s drug vigilantes by Max Daly
Ray Coyle was gunned down as he chatted to customers at his city centre shop in Derry. His crime? Selling legal highs. Max Daly reports on how dissident Republican groups are using the region’s historical distrust of drug dealers to drum up support in Northern Ireland’s…
Druglink article 2010 – Talk to Frank (or Fridge Magnet) by Mike Power
As the internet takes a more central position in Britain’s drug landscape, through the sale of legal highs and proliferation in sites specialising in drugs, more people are turning to unofficial websites as a source of information on psychoactive substances. Talk to Frank…
Druglink article 2010 – Early adopters by Lena Corner
Drug services have to be quick on their feet to keep up with a growing array of new substances being used by young people. Lena Corner visited one project which is managing to keep up to speed. The government’s ban on GBL, BZP…
Druglink article 2010 – World wired web by Mike Power
The powerful legal stimulant, mephedrone, has opened the door to a seemingly unstoppable virtual drugs market. Mike Power, the first journalist to report on mephedrone in Druglink last March, tracks its journey from Chinese labs to Britain’s streets. In May 2004, on an…
Druglink article 2010 – Teenage kicks by Max Daly
How did the isolated County Durham village of Cockfield kick off a nationwide panic over legal highs? In the vast, thinly populated landscape that dominates the peaceful district of Teesdale in south west County Durham, lies the old mining village of Cockfield. It has a…