Police have welcomed new laws which will enable them to target legal “highs”.
Officers in West Yorkshire are now planning to visit so-called head shops across the county to warn them of the new legislation, which comes into force in April.
From early April it will be illegal to produce, supply, offer to supply, possess with intent to supply, import or export psychoactive substances.
The new legislation seek to ban all drugs which affect the human brain.
Among the banned substances are “poppers” and nitrous oxide, or laughing gas, which could both carry a seven-year sentence for those caught selling them.
The Psychoactive Substances Bill, which follows similar legislation in Ireland, introduces a blanket ban on the production, distribution, sale and supply of legal highs.
West Yorkshire’s Drugs Coordinator Bryan Dent said; “We welcome that within the next 90 days, the new bill will come in to force and that we will now be able to take more robust action against head shops and suppliers of psychoactive substances operating across the county.
“High street head shops and other suppliers operate on the margins of legality in selling potentially harmful substances that mimic the effects of illegal drugs and which have been linked to deaths and serious illness.
“The Act now defines what a psychoactive substance is and that definition covers many of the substances which we have discovered have regularly been sold in Head Shops and other outlets including the world wide web.
“Officers will be visiting those selling these substances reminding them of the bill and the implications it will have. From early April , if these suppliers are visited, officers we will have the powers to arrest them and bring criminal charges against them. If found to be committing any offences created by the new Act.
“I am asking all those who have been selling these types of substances to be aware of the new legislation and not to fall foul of the new law.
“We remain very concerned that these substances are being openly sold across the county and that this makes some people, particularly the young, think that they are safe to take.”
