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Comment and Health

UK's legal highs ban is unscientific and will lead to more harm

A plan to prohibit psychoactive substances not covered by existing law will only make matters worse, warns a former UK government drug policy adviser

By David Nutt

29 May 2015

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A blanket ban looms, but will it cause more problems than it solves?

(Image: Credit)

A blanket ban on legal highs in the UK is on the cards. The new government included it in legislative plans unveiled in the Queen’s speech this week and published its bill today.

Cue cheers from campaigners who say the new psychoactive substances it targets can be lethal, and that the “head shops” that sell them are disliked by local communities in the same way that sex shops used to be.

At the core of the campaign for a …

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