Legal highs on the rise

MORE and more youths in Spain are taking 'legal highs'.

They are substances which imitate the effects of illegal drugs and are usually sold in powder, pill or herbal form.

In 2011 only 5 per cent of youths in Spain claimed to be taking the legal highs but this has jumped to 13 per cent in 2014, according to a European study done by Eurobarometro.

After Spain the other highest increases were Ireland, which went from 16 per cent to 22 per cent, and Britain which went from 8 per cent to 10 per cent.

Of those interviewed 15 per cent claimed they could get hold of new psychoactive drugs “very easily” or “easily enough” within 24 hours of their being on the market.

The majority - 68 per cent - claimed they usually got their drugs from a “friend” and only 3 per cent said they bought them on the internet.

Viviane Reding, vice president of the European Commission (EC), commented that they were already drafting legislation to protect the young from any new psychoactive substances which could be harmful. She went on to say that the results from the survey indicated that there was no time to lose in the implementation of the EC’s new legislation which would stop the spread of any harmful substances through the European zone.