ISSUES
: Drugs
Chapter 1: Drug issues
17
Legal highs are no laughing matter say
summer festival organisers
Legal highs on an all-time low? When the balloon goes up, it’s no laughing matter…
O
n 1 April, Lincoln became the
UK’s first city to impose a
complete ban on legal highs
being used anywhere in public.
Just one week later, five legal highs
were banned by government drug
advisers for 12 months to assess
the harm posed.
Less than one month on comes
the news that a 24-hour campaign
to highlight the dangers of taking
substances, such as nitrous oxide –
known as ‘laughing gas’ – is to take
place online, once again, this year.
Blacking out websites…
As the summer festival season
gets underway, more than 40
venues, including Glastonbury,
the Isle of Wight, Bestival, T in the
Park, Lovebox and Parklife will be
repeating last year’s campaign
action by blacking out their websites
for 24 hours on Monday 4 May.
Instead, the homepage of each
festival site will show an infographic
of ‘key statistics, facts and advice
on legal highs’.
The reality of legal highs today have
long evolved from the chilled-out,
plant-based ‘herbal’ alternatives to
illegal drugs of summer festivals
past. Ever since ‘designer drugs’
of the 1980s club scene, an
explosion of new and unregulated,
psychoactive compounds coming
under the umbrella term of ‘legal
highs’ have become commonly
available – and posing risks even
more lethal than traditional, illegal
drugs. Designed to mimic the
effects of ecstasy, cannabis and
amphetamines, a high proportion
are synthesised in China, India and
across South-East Asia.
Alarming rise in deaths…
As a result of the new psychoactive
substances, an alarming rise
in the number of deaths began
to be reported by The National
Programme on Substance Abuse.
Whilst there was ten deaths
recorded in the UK in 2009, the
figure had jumped by more than
fourfold to 42 deaths one year later
and up by more than half again to
68 in 2012.
Over 100 new and unpredictable
synthetic substances were recorded
in 2014 by the European Monitoring
Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction
(EMCDDA). As a result, the number of
deaths linked to the use of legal highs
has escalated eightfold in three years,
according to the Centre for Social
Justice (CSJ).
The
same
explosive
pattern
nationwide could be typically seen in
microcosm, in Lincoln. The number
of incidents involving legal highs in
the city catapulted from seven to 820
between 2010 and 2014.
Of course the term ‘legal highs’ is
not strictly true! An estimated 88 per
cent of the legal highs are actually
controlled and banned. The problem
is the unstoppable influx of lethal new
synthetic drugs, which are temporarily
legal until the law catches up.
Aluminium canisters…
Highlighted recently has been the
rising popularity and widespread
use of nitrous oxide or ‘laughing gas’
among young clubbers and festival
party goers, which continues to cause
real health fears. Particularly popular
among the younger crowd, more than
one in 14 of those aged 16–24 used
nitrous oxide over a 12-month period,
according to the Home Office with 17
deaths recorded between 2006 and
2012.
According to the Association of
IndependentFestivals, thedeadly risks
of legal highs were a “great concern
to anyone involved in staging music
festivals”. However, it seemed that a
‘blind eye’ had been turned to nitrous
oxide taking and the Home Office has
asked summer festival organisers to
ban the use of the substance, along
with the introduction of a ‘no legal
highs’ policy as a condition of entry to
a festival site.
Veteran organisers, Glastonbury
Festival have already declared that
they will be banning nitrous oxide
from their site this year. It now seems
likely that many other festivals will
also be keeping a beady eye out for
little aluminium canisters and funny
looking balloons…
May 2015
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The above information is
reprinted with kind permission
from Help 4 Addiction. Please
visit
for further information.
© Help 4 Addiction 2016
