THE ability to deal with the importation of new legal highs could be restricted if a court judgement concerning a mephedrone case is allowed to stand, according to a Crown Advocate.

Last year, the case against Robert Le Billon, who was accused of attempting to import commercial quantities of the substance, was thrown out after a Magistrate’s Court judge ruled that he could not have reasonably been expected to know it was illegal at the time. Now the prosecution is challenging that ruling in the Court of Appeal.

The Home Department amended the Import and Export of Goods (Control) (Guernsey) Law, 1946, and its 1990 order to try to introduce a blanket ban on the commercial importation of all legal highs in 2009. It also classified them as medicinal products.

This legislation is still used now to make illegal the importation of new legal highs which have yet to be classified. Mephedrone is now a class B drug but was unclassified in October and November 2009, the time Mr Le Billon attempted to import significant quantities of the substance.

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