How dangerous are legal highs? Q&A

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/may/21/how-dangerous-legal-highs-q-and-a

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Five students are being treated in hospital after apparently taking a synthetic cannabis-like drug. How dangerous are legal highs?

What are legal highs?

Legal highs are recreational drugs which contain chemical substances that replicate the effects of harder, criminalised highs such as cannabis or ecstasy. They can come in the form of stimulants, depressants or even hallucinogenic drugs.

Related: Five students in hospital after taking synthetic high

Why are they legal?

They are not banned under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 because drugs are classified as illegal by their chemical compounds. In legal highs, this compound is often slightly altered to avoid the ban. Legal highs cannot be sold for human consumption, so are often labelled as salts, incense or plant food.

Why can they be so dangerous?

They pose such a threat because, like many street drugs, it is not always clear what is in the substance being consumed. This means you do not know how much of it could prove to be too much for you, how the drug will interact with other influences such as alcohol, and medics will not necessarily know how to treat you effectively if you have to go to hospital.

Are they less dangerous than illegal drugs?

There is no reliable way of telling but the number of recorded deaths from legal highs is rising sharply. It was 12 in 2009 and 97 in 2012, according to research by the Centre for Social Justice.

What can be done to curb the legal high market?

The government has taken steps to ban harmful substances more quickly. A temporary ban can be placed on such drugs while a more permanent restriction is awaiting approval from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, which determines which substances are prohibited under the Misuse of Drugs Act. But manufacturers sometimes seek to dodge such bans by altering the chemical make-up of a substance or producing a new high.