'Herbal high' drugs to be banned

BY RICHARD DUCE

DRUGS known as "herbal highs", which are sold as legal
alternatives to Ecstasy and cannabis, are to be banned by the
Government. The drugs, popular at nightclubs, raves and
pop festivals, have been linked to at least 15 deaths in
America.

Staff from the Medicines Control Agency (MCA) plan to
target mail order firms and specialist suppliers known as
"head shops" to stamp out the trade. Alan Milburn, the
Health Minister, said yesterday: "These drugs imitate the
effects of such widely known illegal drugs as cannabis or
Ecstasy but claim to be without the legal or health risks. Yet
these herbal high drugs are illegal, very dangerous, and can
be killers."

To tackle the problem the Government is to enforce the
Medicine Act 1968, which will make trading or
manufacturing the drugs without a licence illegal. The MCA
awards such licences only after extensive trials prove a
product safe.

Herbal highs are marketed under such names as Druid's
Fantasy, Skull Cap, Herbal Ecstasy, Purples and Road
Runner. A typical advertisement reads: "An LSDtype
experience", including "giggles, time distortion, perceptual
change and brighter colours".

Ingredients include substances such as khat, yohimbe bark
and its active ingredient yohimbe, ipomoea, and ephedra,
which has the active ingredient ephedrine. The deaths in
America have been associated with products containing
ephedra.

According to the Government, khat, popular with immigrants
from Africa and the Middle East, is known to cause a form
of psychosis and yohimbe is potentially hazardous when used
in conjunction with common drugs found in cough and cold
remedies.

Dealers who try to promote the herbal highs as "safe"
alternatives to mindbending drugs were warned a year ago
by the MCA to stop trading. They now face up to two years
in jail for selling pills which cost between #3 and #5 via mail
order in youth magazines. Others are almost as expensive as
controlled drugs: a substance known as "Cat", said to have a
similar effect to cocaine, retails at #55 a gram #10 less than
the real thing.

Mr Milburn said: "It is clear that some suppliers and retailers
have cynically ignored the MCA and have gone back on
their word. Direct action is now the only option to protect
the public."