Synthetic drug industry needs to lead charge

Labour is urging members of the legal high industry to self-regulate and establish their own code of practice for testing the safety of products before they are sold.

Importers and retailers of synthetic drugs are meeting today to discuss growing concerns over the dangers of putting unregulated drugs on the market. It follows the banning of two brands of legal highs discovered to contain prescription drugs.

"The industry should take a good look at itself. These latest developments just highlight the increasingly urgent need for a total re-write of the Misuse of Drugs Act," Labour's Associate Health spokesperson Iain Lees-Galloway says.

"Labour is looking to those at today's meeting to take a lead and commit to the Law Commission's recommendations, where the would-be seller would have to prove that the drugs were safe, as if they were already law.

"Currently we have a system that uses the public as guinea pigs. The Law Commission report not only recommends new products be rigorously tested for safety before they go to market with those results made public, but also advocates advertising restrictions," Iain Lees-Galloway said.

"The Government has said it will act, but not until next year. It also needs to move now, not just by implementing a band-aid fix, but by introducing legislation that gives us a durable solution.

"The ad-hoc approach to drug control has gone on too long. Let's use this opportunity to create law that genuinely reduces harm, protects our communities and brings our response to drug use and supply into the 21st century," Iain Lees-Galloway said.

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