IMPORTING some legal highs for personal use could soon be banned, according to Customs chief officer Rob Prow.
After outlawing the commercial importation of legal highs in April, the Health and Social Services and Home departments, Drug and Alcohol Strategy and health professionals are now reviewing the situation regarding personal use.
‘It is highly likely that blanket prohibitions on importation will be considered for products found to be the most harmful and that some constituents will, in time, find their way on to controlled drug schedules,’ said Mr Prow.
Guernsey’s Customs and Immigration Service is taking part in the Early Warning System, an EU working group that seeks to identify emerging drugs of concern.
It reports its findings to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction.
The substances causing most concern are Spice, mephedrone, khat, salvia divinorum and chloro phenyl piperazine (CPP). All are freely available to order on the internet.
‘Each substance will be considered locally and, if deemed appropriate, legislation such as the Misuse of Drugs Law or the Import and Export of Goods (Control) Order may be utilised to implement appropriate restrictions,’ said Mr Prow.
These legal highs could follow in the footsteps of benzylpiperazine, BZP, an amphetamine-like substance found in a number of ‘party pills’ available on the legal high market.
In 2007, a blanket ban was placed on the importation of BZP and the UK and Bailiwick is due to make it a class C drug soon.
Outlawing the importation of legal highs would not be simple. The manufacturers alter the active chemical compounds regularly to get around legislation.
For example, CPP was put in products as an alternative to BZP.
Also, some legal highs contain chemicals found in everyday household products, such as nail varnish and paint stripper, making legislating against them extremely difficult.
How personal importation will be policed Pages 24 & 25
Article posted on 31st July, 2009 - 11.30am
19 Article Comments
The establishment is far too late with this one.
Everyone that’s down wit dis kinda snizzle has already moved onto Jenkem anyway. Unfortunately there’s no way that it can be made illegal so best just educate your kids not to make it.
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I think Mrs P should maybe cut down herself.
Jenkem? What’s Jenkem?
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Never mind. I just googled it.
That’s hilarious. I reckon we should all get on the jenkem.
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Great. So the prison will have even more criminalised youngsters to swap tales on how to ‘cook’ the gear.
There’s many an ex con that’s come out with more knowledge on cannabis cultivation, detection evading techniques and general law n order tips than they had before their few month stint for smoking a bit of low grade soap bar.
Prohibition on more substances, some so little used, will mean spending more on Customs. Aren’t they stretched as it is?
So much for spending restraint!
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Mrs P’s brownies are not moreish for nothing.
All organically homegrown too.
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Jenkem is a board game where you have to remove bricks from a tall wooden tower without the tower collapsing.
It creates quite a buzz at all the fashionable student parties!!
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….Jenkem is an alleged hallucinogenic recreational drug composed of noxious gas formed from fermented sewage.
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Student Bob…..Isn’t that Jenga?
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Student Bob
Jenga is not even a board game either. Lay off the jenkem at the student halls of residence parties.
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I can’t believe that Jenkem harm reduction isn’t being taught in our schools already. I’ve done my best with my kids but when you see them streaming over to Belle Grave bay at low tide you just know they’re not going looking for Ormers. Apart from leaving you out of it the stuff stinks some kids were using it outside our house yesterday and we can still smell this filth. Watch out for an unusually hjigh use of balloons thats one of the things the children and some of them on our estate are very young are using. Balloons and lemonade bottles, if you see kids with them be very suspicous.
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Problem users need help, not jail. Is everyone that touches anything ‘toxic’ a problem user?
That’s how daft prohibition is. We encourage criminality, dangerous experimentation and social problems by continuing this expensive approach to a problem that will never, ever go away.
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either ban all drugs or make them all legal and tax them. you cant keep changing the system. real life moves too quick.
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When the kids and I were building a jenkem tower the other night (1st time I’d ever played) I smelt this terrible methane pong-now I understand why, jenkem is actually a noxious-smelling board game (at the time I naturally assumed that one of the kids had farted)
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There was a very poor documentary about Guernsey and legal highs the other night.
See here for details: http://www.synchronium.net/2009/07/10/can-i-get-high-legally/
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Baphomet – completely agree, im not sure why the rest of the whole hasnt caught on to this basic idea. I think everyone should have a ready of Ben Elton’s ‘High Society’.. that’ll change your mind :)
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Baphomet – 100 % agree, and i’m still not sure why the politicians of our country haven’t figured it out yet! I think everyone should have a read of Ben Elton’s ‘High Society’ .. maybe that’ll change their mind :)
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Haven’t Customs got anything better to do with their time?
Instead of pestering people who seek nothing more than an altered state of mind (along with the thousands of people who do so every day in the island’s pubs and bars, perfectly legally) I suggest that some of them retrain and go and work down at the motor tax department (or whatever it’s called nowadays) where it takes a ridiculous amount of time to get anything done due to apparently being short-staffed. They’d be doing a far more useful job, although they may have to be prevented from having access to any cash that gets paid across the counter…….
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Make poverty history, cheaper drugs now!
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In my opinion, attemptiong to control how someone enjoys their free time is obsurd. Trying to censor mild drugs should be viewed as trying to control which type of movie a person will watch… Most recreational drug users spend their time relaxing with their friends or family after work, or maybe drinking a few beers (which happens to be another psychoactive drug). If any laws should be implimented on the misuse of narcotics, I would suggest thinking about making the laws similar to the use and obuse of alcohol. Perhaps set a limit for the ammount one can comsume in public, and set rules with vehicles and work et cetera. If a crime is commited while under the influence of a drug, further penalties should be implimented, same as with alcohol. Its not like the government are our parents, and drug users are like the rebelling children… We are all experienced adults, cappible of cooperativly deciding on conditions and regulations. It doesnt need to be a war, this could benifite us all.
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