‘Legal highs’ that are actually legal contain one or more chemical substances which produce similar effects to illegal drugs (like cocaine, cannabis and ecstasy). These new substances are not yet controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and there is often not enough research about them to know about their potency, adverse effects from human consumption, or when used with other substances or alcohol.
However, more and more ‘legal highs’ are being researched to see what their dangers are and to see whether they should be made illegal. In fact, many substances that have been found in substances sold as ‘legal highs’ have already been made illegal.
'Legal highs' cannot be sold for human consumption so they are often sold as incense, salts or plant food to get round the law. The packaging may describe a list of ingredients but you cannot be sure that this is what the product will contain.
Just the fact that a substance is sold as ‘legal’ doesn’t mean that it’s safe or legal. You can’t really be sure of what’s in a ‘legal high’ that you’ve bought, or been given, or what effect it’s likely to have on you or your friends. We know that many ‘legal highs’ are sold under brand names like ‘Clockwork Orange’, ‘Bliss’, ‘Mary Jane’ and have been directly linked to poisoning, emergency hospital admissions including in mental health services and, in some cases, deaths.
The main effects of almost all ‘psychoactive’ drugs, including ‘legal highs’, can be described using three main categories:
- stimulants
- ‘downers’ or sedatives
- psychedelics or hallucinogens.
Some of the statistics I found were;"In its European Drug Report 2013, the agency said the UK's average mortality rate due to overdose was 38.3 per million population, more than twice the average for Europe at 17 per million.""In its European Drug report 2014, the EMCDDA said the total number of legal highs available across the continent has now soared to more than 350 substances.Some 651 websites selling legal highs to Europeans were identified by the agency as it warned the open sale of the designer drugs online has increased availability to distributors and consumers."
From these statistics I found that UK is one of the worse for population of drug users, and the a vast avaliablity of legal highs is increasing.As for illegal drugs and alchol I found these statisticst taken from the guardian 2014;
"The average British adult spends £32.05 per month on alcohol, £18.19 per month on tobacco products and £8.24 per month on illegal drugs. However, these figures are based on all adults, irrespective of whether they drink, smoke or take drugs. If we remove those who spend nothing on each of the categories in an average month, the figures change significantly. The average smoker spends £76.73 on tobacco and the average drinker spends £54.58 per month on alcohol. In terms of active drug users, 39% say they do not spend anything on drugs in an average month, which helps to reduce the overall monthly expenditure of this group to £45.31. If we just consider those drug users who do spend money on drugs in an average month, average expenditure increases to £74.36. In addition to the money they spend on drugs, active drug users also spend significantly more than the national average on alcohol (£66.62 per month) and tobacco products (£53.68 per month).""One in 10 Britons has taken legal highs, ie drugs not currently covered by misuse of drugs laws (also known as new psychoactive substances (NPS). Usage of legal highs is most common among young Britons; 16% of 16-24s and 19% of 25-34s have taken them. Regionally, use is highest in London and the south-east, where 16% have taken them."These statistic back up the factor that I believe drugs are a problem and are having a large impact on the population as stated above it is most common amongst 16-24 & 25- 34 this backs up my idea that my music video is relatable to my target age group of 16+ and may influence them in a postive way, away from drugs.
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