Buckinghamshire County Council investigating legal high problem

Buckinghamshire County Council is carrying out a survey to learn which drugs people are taking, especially which legal highs. Legal highs, also called new psychoactive substances, are any drug designed to produce a similar effect to an illegal substance, such as cocaine, cannabis or ecstasy, but that is not currently regulated, or even identified, by the Misuse of Drugs Act.

The survey asks locals to provide details of any legal highs they have taken and also asks why they use them. The council wishes to learn what prompts somebody to start taking a potentially lethal drug and also to identify current trends that could indicate future problems. When a new drug comes on the market, the first time officials are aware of it is often when somebody is admitted to hospital.

The survey is also seeking feedback from people who have not taken a legal high in an attempt to understand their views on drug taking and to see if it is possible to determine why some people are not interested.

Buckinghamshire County Council will use the information gathered to improve services and drug policies.

According to the latest data from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, there are now over 300 different legal highs in production and new drugs are appearing weekly.

Patricia Birchley, Buckinghamshire County Council’s cabinet member for health and wellbeing, said: “The use of legal highs is a game-changing development in the pattern of drug use across the UK and Europe.”

Everybody is invited to take part in the survey, which is available online at www.mylegalhigh.org.