Drug ban was too slow says adviser

Professor Les Iversen, the chief drugs adviser, conceded yesterday that they would need to act more quickly with the introduction of additional temporary banning orders, aimed at getting legal highs off the streets as soon as they become a problem.

The first problems with mephedrone were highlighted in September 2009, but the drug was not banned until March last year.

Under new plans for temporary bans going through Parliament, members of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) are expected to have 20 days to consider an initial ban and then about a year to provide a full report of the associated harms.

A total of 65 deaths in England and 14 in Scotland are suspected of being related to mephedrone use, according to ACMD member Prof Simon Gibbons. Prof Iversen added: “One of the points of having a temporary-class drugs order is that it’s something that can be done in a hurry and put a clamp on the further escalation of the use of that particular compound.

“So if we take too long about our deliberations, as we probably did in the case of mephedrone, it gives the users and dealers an opportunity to buy and stockpile that drug during the period while it’s still legal.”