Beggs presses First Minister on legal highs

During a recent session at the Assembly, the UUP man – a supporter of community group Preventing Addiction Larne (PAL) – pressed First Minister Peter Robinson on the work of the British-Irish Council in combating legal highs. It comes after a recent report to the Assembly on the British-Irish Council summit indicated that discussion took place on the issue of head shops and legal highs.

He asked Mr Robinson: “You said that head shops and so-called legal highs were discussed under the heading of substance misuse. Will the First Minister tell us whether the spot-listing of designer drugs was discussed? We recently suffered an epidemic of mephedrone use in Northern Ireland and found that it took three or four months to have that drug banned. Can we develop this idea so that we can follow the good practice of the USA and New Zealand and be one step ahead of the international criminal gangs?”

The First Minister told him the issue was not discussed, but he undertook to refer Mr Beggs’s remarks to the Miinister.

Mr Beggs and fellow MLAs Sammy Wilson and Alastair Ross were among 300 people who atended a public meeting called by PAL to highlight the risks of so-called legal highs.