A Forfar minister is ready to mobilise an “army of thousands” to stop a legal highs shop from opening in the town.
The Rev Dr Karen Fenwick was “horrified” on learning a shop selling new psychoactive substances could be about to open on North Street.
Within hours she had emailed politicians, from Prime Minister David Cameron to councillors, highlighting her concerns and demanding action on the issue not only for Forfar, but for communities everywhere.
She said: “This is not an act of nimbyism.
“For me, this doesn’t stop at the Forfar boundary. It is time that we said goodbye to the legal high.”
As a minister, Dr Fenwick has seen the ravages of drugs on the addicted.
As an experienced former research scientist and employee of major international pharmaceutical firms, she fully understands the dangers of unlicensed drugs.
Dr Fenwick thanked the women behind a Facebook page set up to oppose the plans for bringing the issue to everyone’s attention.
“I was horrified and I think, with my pharmaceutical background, I know the dangers of these unlicensed products,” she said.
“My reaction was that our kids are being used as guinea pigs for something that’s untested; for something that can be sold alongside a bag of sweets and a comic.”
Dr Fenwick added: “I know full well the dangers of unlicensed drugs and if a drug company or GP handed these products out, we would see multi-million-pound lawsuits.
“It beggar’s belief that they can be sold over the counter to our children.”
Having seen lives ruined after people have fallen prey to substance abuse and addiction, Dr Fenwick made no differentiation between illegal drugs and so-called legal highs.
She warned the hopelessly addicted can lose their family, any chance they have of holding down a job and even their lives.
Dr Fenwick thanked Chief Inspector Gordon Milne and his officers for their efforts in tackling the issue in the area, and in particular their efforts to inform schoolchildren.
As chaplain for the area’s schools, she has spoken to teachers and staff and said they are 100% behind the campaign against NPS.
Everyone Dr Fenwick has spoken to or contacted in Forfar has expressed opposition to plans for a shop selling legal highs and has offered support.
She said: “I have mobilised the clergy across the denominations and we will mobilise the congregations to ensure there will always be somebody right outside if this shop opens its doors. That numbers into the thousands.
“Our kids are too precious. Young people have their lives ahead of them. Don’t throw it away on a mistaken belief that you might do better or feel better on this poison.”
As organisers of Forfar Against Legal High Shop Opening hit the streets to hand out petitions yesterday, membership of the Facebook page continued to rise along with numbers on the e-petition, which have surged past 1,600.