NPS

Psychoactive Substances Act 2016: enforcement In this feature blanket ban headshop closures underground activity The new order The Psychoactive Substances Act turned legal highs into illegal drugs. So, three months after the Act was introduced, are trading standards services still responsible for taking them off the streets? Rob Coston reports T rading standards officers have a history of tackling legal highs. When the Psychoactive Substances Act aimed at introducing a blanket ban on these new psychoactive substances (NPS) was still passing through parliament, there was an expectation that trading standards would be responsible for its implementation. Yet, the ban has turned legal highs into illegal highs, and changed the nature of the trade. The Home Office says that, since the Act came into effect back in May, more than 300 head shops have stopped selling NPS and 24 have closed. A crackdown by the police has also resulted in 186 arrests, as sales move from shops to private residences and onto the streets. NPS are also sold on the internet, and it may be that more of the trade will shift there. Chief Inspector Mark Stanley of Nottinghamshire Police says: We had information that people who were selling NPS through head shops were trying to get rid of large quantities that were in their possession before the ban. The community intelligence were getting on the sale of NPS is now limited, which leads us to wonder whether itmight have gone online. So, if sales are now on the internet and on street corners, do trading standards officers have the tools to deal with the problem? Should apprehending NPS dealers now be a matter for the police? Collaboration the previous approach Even before the new law came in, sellers were not keeping shops stocked with NPS, as they knew we would just seize the products Nottingham Trading Standards was active and successful in the fight against NPS before the Act came into force. This involved close collaboration, as Jane Bailey, trading standards manager, explains: Wehad three shops on our radar that were selling legal highs. We were doing warrants, always in collaboration with the police because we work in a partnership called Nottingham Community Protection weliterally sit alongside the police, as we work in a police station. Trading standards took the lead on the enforcement we didnt prosecute, but went down the forfeiture route and were successful in the jobs we did. Obviously, overt enforcement meant that we pushed the sale of legal highs a little underground, and even before the new law came in, sellers were not keeping shops stocked with NPS, as they knew we would just seize the products. They would just have a couple of packets there instead, and put most of the stock offsite in a car or at a home address, so it was much more difficult for us to find it. Newcastle upon Tyne was also highly involved in tackling legal highs pre-legislation. David Ellerington, commercial services manager at Newcastle Trading Standards, explains that a taskforce consisting of trading standards, public health and the police, met for three years to explore different options for dealing with NPS. There were a number of successes thanks to this collaboration, with premises selling NPS being hit with closure orders for anti-social behaviour, or licensing reviews in connection with other issues that were uncovered, such as the sale of illegal tobacco. After the ban, however, both of these successful, established models for working together against NPS were bound to change. W HAT ARE NPS? Legal highs officially referred to as new with existing laws. As NPS are artificial, their in May this year, when the government psychoactive substances (NPS) are created effects are unknown and they can be deadly passed the Psychoactive Substances Act. in labs to mimic the effects of illegal drugs to users (see chart, Deaths in numbers). They This made all substances that produce a like cannabis. They were marketed under can also be more addictive than the drugs psychoactive effect illegal, with exemptions brand names like Spice and Clockwork they mimic. for tobacco, alcohol, coffee and some other products. Anyone involved in supplying, After recognising the potentially harmful Orange and became widely available in head shops and retail outlets, such as effects of NPS, some councils and trading producing, importing or exporting an NPS petrol forecourts. standards services have put a lot of possessing with intent to supply faces a effort into inhibiting their sale; Lincoln, for possible seven-year prison sentence. To skirt the law, NPS were often marked as Home Office guidance on the not for human consumption, sold instead as example, banned the use of legal highs plant food or incense, for example. Whenever in public places, and has carried out raids enforcement of the Act has removed the an individual NPS was banned, chemists and seizures. There were also calls from ambiguity about what kind of substances would tweak the chemical structure slightly campaigners and politicians for a national should be tackled anything that is to produce a new, unregulated substance, response to the issue. qualitatively similar to drugs banned under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. The anti-NPS camp achieved success making the problem difficult to tackle Deaths in numbers 70 Total deaths 60 50 40 68 30 60 67 20 10 10 0 2008 2012 2013 2014 Year A continuing role Were probably more au fait and conversant with the needs of small and medium-sized businesses and how they generally operate than police officers, who are used to dealing with on street issues Despite the new law, cooperation between agencies continues, even though the struggle against NPS has changed. The work now being done in Newcastle is an example of the role that trading standards can continue to play. When the Act came in, the police took a lot of the responsibility for tackling this problem because the shops selling legal highs have disappeared. Head shops still sell drug paraphernalia you go in and see the rows of bongs but not the legal highs. We havent received any complaints about them, says Ellerington. Bailey confirms that the police are now taking the lead on NPS in Nottingham, too. Yet trading standards could still be called upon to keep shops honest. Ellerington says: Through our experience with age-restricted product enforcement and dealings with illegal tobacco products, were probably more au fait and conversant with the needs of small and medium-sized businesses and how they generally operate than police officers, who are used to dealing with on street issues. If we happen to be in a shop and see NPS, well advise the owner that these substances are banned now and take them away. The police also sometimes want to use us as a way into premises where they might need a warrant. We can get in and take a look around. Were hiring sniffer dogs quite frequently now to find illicit tobacco everyone likes dogs and theyre good PR! Well use them on six or seven shops, and these shops tend to be of interest to the police as well. If we see something that we are concerned about, well let them know. Likewise, if we found [an NPS-producing] factory somewhere we would probably pass the information on to them. Bailey identifies another important way that trading standards can continue the fight: We wouldnt be the lead partner now, but we will be a big partner on whatever action is taken in the future we still have a role. [Nottingham] has a big university population so well be attending freshers week to give messages out about illegal tobacco and alcohol. While were there it makes sense to talk about legal highs as well, telling them that they might seem clever, but not to do them. Its something were constantly warning the student population about. So, if NPS have largely been removed from shops, where are they? In Nottingham we have Street Pastors, who look after people on Friday and Saturday nights. Anecdotal evidence from them and the police shows legal highs are still out there, but we dont yet have information on who the sellers are, says Bailey. Ellerington believes the old stock is in private residences: The products are now in peoples houses, so the police are going for warrants and seizing them. I think shops were selling the stuff on before the ban, and people were stockpiling them and perhaps becoming dealers. Acting on information, the police here have raided a couple of houses that contained legal highs but the properties also contained other drugs and offensive weapons. A success story? This highlights one of the worries about the Psychoactive Substances Act that it will merely drive the sale of NPS onto the internet and underground, into the hands of criminal gangs, as has happened in Ireland following the introduction of a similar law. Alternatively, it could cause addicts to seek out more traditional drugs like heroin. However, these concerns are balanced by some positive signs, In particular, Commander Simon Bray from the National Police Chiefs Council told the BBC that the ban makes it much more difficult for casual first-time users to get involved with NPS. At the moment it seems to be working, says Ellerington. The real test is the addicts and whether they will stop looking for NPS, but the ban is working well so far. We really needed a change in the law, which is what we pushed for and what we got. T HE POLICE VIEW Chief Inspector Mark Stanley of Working with Nottingham Trading warrants shortly after the new powers came Nottinghamshire Police has worked closely Standards, we looked at the more in, but didnt find anything on the premises with trading standards on the NPS issue. innovative trading standards legislation weve searched. Before the legislative changes, the that addressed packaging, and went Weve always known theres been an law didnt criminalise intent to supply new after shops selling NPS using this. We were online presence with NPS; has the sale psychoactive substances. The police didnt particularly thankful that trading standards of NPS gone there, or been driven further have the powers to search, get warrants or was able to use offences around stated underground? Are the same people doing arrest people, he says. usages for these substances, for example, it, but being more creative with how they and its then been able to apply for get it on the street? What we can say is forfeiture of the products. that we get information that young people In Nottingham weve got two or three head shops that were selling this type are still using NPS particularly in the of thing. Trading standards worked very Following the introduction of the hard to ensure compliance and where Psychoactive Substances Act, do NPS night-time economy and people are still offences were found they were very keen now fall under legislation that the police supplying it. Its fair to say that its being to seize the goods. The police were keen can enforce? dealt on the streets. to be there, because we didnt know what Yes, but weve continued to work As a result, were now trying to change these substances were, there have been with trading standards because of the our tactics, but because trading standards deaths nationally, and we wanted to be intelligence it receives about whats has good contacts with the community, there to disrupt the supply and usage of happening in these headshops are they with other trading standards services and NPS. At the time, trading standards were the still in possession of NPS? As a result weve with drug treatment organisations, we people who had the relevant legislation. done some activity and executed some obviously keep it in the loop. Credits Rob Coston is a reporter for TS Today. Images: fStop Images Larry Washburn / Getty Images To share this page, in the toolbar click on You might also like Legal high-noon, page 12, TS Review February 2016 edition.