Hansard

I am grateful to the minister for outlining the understanding that the Government has developed in relation to new psychoactive substances. I also acknowledge the contribution thus far from members and their understanding of the challenge that we face, in particular Graeme Dey, who has outlined some understanding of the technical difficulties that lie beyond the initial challenge.

The problem was outlined and responded to earlier: 47 families in Scotland suffered a death in 2012 as a direct consequence of the use of new psychoactive substances. Lying behind each of those deaths is an international challenge, because many of the chemicals that are involved in new psychoactive substances are sourced in bulk from China and India.

No legal framework is available to control the development of new psychoactive substances outcomes, as the chemists involved gradually change the formula that lies behind the chemicals, thereby extending their reach outwith criminality. There is a supply chain for class A drugs that is currently used across Europe to deliver new psychoactive substances into the European market. The Netherlands, Belgium and Turkey play a major part as a nexus for that supply chain.

Importantly, from the point of view of those who sell new psychoactive substances this is profit largely without jail and this is profit largely without tax. This is a business that has developed with an amoral approach: although they know full well that those who purchase new psychoactive substances are taking a chance and consuming dangerous drugs, the sellers pretend to all and sundry that the products are not for human consumption. They are kidding no one with that approach, but in the absence of an ability to carry out presumptive tests on all the substances that are available, it is difficult for the authorities to maintain a current understanding of the challenge.

Often, as was referred to earlier, class A drugs are found within the legal high supply. Those legal highs, as they are called by young people, can have a higher strength impact than the class A drug that they seek to replace. The stimulant MDPV, which appeared for the first time in 2008, has been responsible for 100 known deaths across Europe since then and hundreds of incidents in various countries across the world, so it is a problem that affects more than Scotland.

A pattern is developing. The drug is created, introduced to the market and promoted largely on the internet. People consume the drug and its fame is transferred by word by mouth. It is viewed by the authorities and, once it is discovered, it is tested and becomes regulated and the content is made illegal. As a result, the use of the drug falls significantly but, by that time, the chemist has moved on.

We have had the experience of BZP, GBL and other drugs that have gone through that process. Such drugs have been sold as fish food or plant food not for human consumption, and yet their role on the internet is well understood.

What should we do? What do we need to understand in taking things forward? Many aspects have already been covered in earlier speeches. We need to connect our statistical analysis to the database that is maintained by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction. Statistics held there in relation to Scotland and the UK are poor in the extreme. We should be updating the centre with our information and receiving information about the trends that it identifies.

We should initiate more testing of recoveries in order to identify new substances as they come on to the market. For those substances that are recovered without engagement with an accused, it is important that we identify the detail of what they contain.

Education has been mentioned, and it is clear that young people and their parents have not been educated about the impact of so-called legal highs in our communities. To some extent we have lost ground, as legal highs are well understood by teenagers who react to the sales of such substances in their own communities.

We should engage with HM Revenue and Customs. The people who sell these substances are making substantial profits, and we are entitled to know whether those profits are being declared. If they are not, HMRC should pay attention. That would put pressure on the sales, and we could achieve the desired outcome by a different method.

Members have mentioned trading standards, for which product safety is an issue, and it is clear that they should become involved. We should monitor imminent European legislation that may assist us in dealing with the new psychoactive challenge.

Ireland introduced legislation in 2010 to attack the use of psychoactive substances and their effects. However, the problem is that, once a case arrives at court, it becomes very challenging to produce a prosecution. As the minister indicated, the evidence from New Zealand is in its early days, but it does not look particularly promising in terms of taking us forward to a solution.

Our young people need to know that these drugs are dangerous and should be avoided. We should encourage parents to ensure that our younger generations avoid new psychoactive substances at all costs.