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Expert Review Group reports back on new ways to tackle ‘legal highs’.

A range of measures to tackle the scourge of so-called ‘legal highs’ have been unveiled by the independent group set up to explore the issue in Scotland.

The Scottish Government established an Expert Review Group in August last year to consider the powers currently available in Scotland to tackle the sale and supply of New Psychoactive Substances (NPS).

While the restriction and classification of drugs is reserved to the UK Government, the Scottish Government has been working closely with partners to gather vital information about NPS to feed into ongoing national work.

The final meeting of the Group took place at the end of January, and a final report was complied with the findings of the work.

Mr Wheelhouse welcomed the publication of the report in a Ministerial statement to Parliament yesterday, praising the hard work of the group.

Earlier, he visited the Cairn Centre in Dundee which works with those who have drug and alcohol dependencies across the Tayside area. The approach to tackling NPS in the area has been held up as an example of good practice across Scotland.

The report features six key recommendations:

• Recommending that licensing authorities should attach conditions and restrictions in relation to the sale of NPS when issuing public entertainment or similar licenses. This could be extended to include drug paraphernalia.
• Producing a tool-kit and operational guidance to help frontline trading standards staff in tackling NPS.
• Establishing a national centre of excellence in forensic analysis to lead in the detection and identification of NPS in Scotland.
• Developing a specific definition of New Psychoactive Substances that can be adopted across all areas in Scotland.
• Asking the Scottish Government to consider adapting the key elements of the Irish approach, working in partnership with the Home Office, in its creation of new legislation and ensuring that any new legislation delivers maximum effectiveness in Scotland.
• Developing a formal protocol between relevant agencies, setting out roles, responsibilities and information-sharing protocols.

The Minister has also announced his intention to chair a Ministerial cross-party group to oversee the response to challenges presented by NPS, including some of the work required to respond to the recommendations made in the Expert Group report. This group will build on the existing good work being done on the issue across the political parties and ensure a shared understanding of the problem.

Minister for Community Safety Paul Wheelhouse said yesterday:

“It has become increasingly clear over the past few years that the danger of New Psychoactive Substances represents a significant challenge for our health, justice and third sector organisations.

“The fact their ingredients are unknown and untested is particularly worrying, and we have seen tragic incidents where these substances have caused huge harm to users, even death.

“I welcome all the Expert Group’s recommendations. The report shows that in some areas, the necessary powers to tackle NPS are available, but yet even these can be made more effective. In others, some new suggestions are being made and we will work closely with our enforcement agencies to identify how best we can take them forward. This work is also useful in gathering information about the damaging effect these substances have in Scotland to feed into national thinking around NPS.

“Today’s publication of the Expert Group Report is a huge step forward in how Scottish organisations can collectively tackle the problem of what are misleadingly called “legal highs” and it gives a great base for further work and development to take place.

“The Scottish Government will now look closely at the recommendations, consider these carefully, and take further action to clamp down on this increasingly challenging problem.

“What is clear though is that there is no “silver bullet” to tackle the problem, however the excellent partnership working that already exists across Scottish agencies, when combined with this valuable research, means we are in a strong position to make strong progress to keep our communities safe.”

Stewart Murdoch, Vice Chair of the Dundee Alcohol & Drugs Partnership, added yesterday: "We were delighted to welcome the Minister to Dundee today and to have the opportunity to share with him the local efforts to tackle the use of NPS. Having recently completed a needs assessment study of the nature and extent of NPS use in Dundee, I welcome the recommendations in the Report of the National NPS Expert Review Group. I am certain the report will help us progress with our work to tackle the use of NPS in Dundee." 

Detective Inspector Stevie Russell, Police Scotland, said: “We welcomed the opportunity to form part of the legal expert group to provide an operational perspective of working within the confines of current legislation in tackling the issues associated with NPS. Suppliers can, and do, alter the molecular structure of a compound to ensure it evolves and so continues to fall outwith current banning orders. It can be like chasing a bouncing ball”

Professor Alison Britton from the Law Society of Scotland, said: “We were delighted to be asked to be part of this review group and its consideration of this ever changing and challenging area. It is important that we do everything we can to ensure that we protect those who are most vulnerable, through the sharing of information and an effective legislative framework.”