AN ANGUS councillor has thrown his weight behind a campaign to rid the county of so-called legal highs.
Montrose member David May has backed the Montrose Against Legal Highs Facebook group, which represents around 1,120 members of the community, in its fight against the sale of new psychoactive substances in Angus.
The emergence of the controversialsubstances on the high street in severalAngus towns has provoked a strongreaction from sections of the community that want to see the products banished from the area.
Mr May has pledged his support to those people and revealed he has been in discussion with a number of agencies in a bid to stir action.
He told members of the Montrosegroup: “Having had increasing contactof late from people in the Montrose and Angus area about their familymembers who have taken so-called legal highsubstances, or as others know them, new psychoactive substances, it is clear thatthis has led to some of them beinghospitalised.
“Nationally many have died from taking those substances and I have heard about one who now needs 24-hour care.
“I know that these substances can also be bought online (and) we now have shops in Angus that sell these drugs and I am keen to do all I can do to close these shops down and educate people about the dangers of these drugs.”
Mr May expressed support for an Angus Council motion aiming to put pressure on both the UK and Scottish Government and said he will meet the local MSP to discuss the topic further.
He added: “I have arranged to see the head of education at Angus Council later this week to discuss what our schools do in informing our youngsters about theso-called legal highs and ensuring theyrealise how dangerous these substancesare.
“I have contacted Alison McInnes, the Lib Dem MSP, about the fact that Ireland had passed a law in 2010 which makes it a criminal offence to advertise, sell orsupply, for human consumption,psychoactive substances not specifically controlled under existing legislation.
“Alison has contacted the relevantScottish minister and will chase this up.
“I have also been in touch with the local police about the event in Aberdeen, organised by Police Scotland and Transition Extreme, which has been arranged toeducate people about the dangers of new psychoactive substances to see how to organise it in our area.”
Figures from the National Drug-Related Deaths Database (Scotland) Report showed that legal highs were implicated in 36 deaths in one year in Scotland.
A report into the figures, releasedby the information services division of the NHS, said more research was needed to understand the prevalence of legalhighs and the dangers posed by thesubstances.
mdalziel@thecourier.co.uk