Police warn of new 'legal high'

Constable Steven Houston has said the copy-cat highs being sold in the North West may be just as dangerous as the once legal alternative. Speaking last week at Limavady DPP meeting along with Area Commander Stephen Cargin, Constable Houston said the police would like to see temporary bans placed on legal substances until research is carried out on it's effects.

"Anyone found with a bag of white powder will have it seized, be arrested and we will deal later with the fact it may be legal. What we use to have was people carrying a white bag of cocaine saying it was mephredrone. Now we have people with a white bag of mephredrone saying it's NRG-1. This is now being sold as the legal alternative," said Constable Houston.

The police officer added that some new legal substances were posing a higher risk of overdose because of their "slow reacting" effects. He added that the PSNI would like to see a temporary ban on legal highs such as NRG-1 until more research is done into the substances.

"With brand new legal drugs you get brand new legal drug dealers, and in terms of mephredrone it is still very much out there. It's partly underground and partly because when it was legal, some people were happy to take it but stopped when it became illegal. Now the mainstream drug dealers are dealing it."

"Mephedrone gave us and other towns a complete nightmare last year. It is highly addictive and if you see anyone on it you will know because they will be dropping pounds and pounds and it makes a mess of people's lives."

In reply to a comment from SDLP Councillor Michael Coyle on the issue, Area Commander Stephen Cargin said drugs will never be accepted in society and criticised Republican vilgilante group Republican Action Against Drugs (RAAD).

Inspector Cargin said: "We live in a civilised society and none of use will accept the use of drugs. No credit can be given to criminal thugs. "That's all RAAD are and that's all they deserve. They shouldn't be given any credibility at all. We will deal with drug dealers the proper way."

108 drug related arrests and 103 seizures were carried out in the borough last year. This included 5,837 Ecstasy tablets, 6.6 kg of cannabis resin and 21.4 kgs of herbal cannabis.