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Legal Highs Legal intoxicants can lead to poisoning
You can easily order them over the internet or sometimes buy them in stores. Therefore, behind "legal highs" most people initially suspect harmless substances. But the use of legal intoxicants can have serious health consequences. Experts strongly advise against taking.
Camouflaged as herbal mixtures or bath salts
In many cases, they are harmless as herbal mixtures or bath salts and are lawfully distributed over the Internet or stores. But they are dangerous like some illegal drugs. Time and again health experts and police are warning against legal drugs, so-called "legal highs". As Peter Urban from the Brandenburg police headquarters said, according to a message from the dpa news agency, the new intoxicants have become a dangerous phenomenon.
Toxic "legal" drugs. Picture: wollertz - fotolia Legal intoxicants are hazardous to health
"These are not officially considered as drugs, but are highly toxic with devastating consequences for health," said the Managing Director of the Brandenburg State Agency for Addiction, Andrea Hardeling. Similar comments were recently issued by experts from the poison emergency center Baden-Württemberg. They warned against dangerous side effects of such substances. Depending on the composition of the ingredients, psychological symptoms such as panic attacks and hallucinations may develop following the consumption of highly dangerous legal highs. It can also lead to physical impairments such as blood pressure fluctuations, nausea and vomiting, serious cardiovascular problems, cramps or comatose states.
Consumer was in mortal danger
What makes the situation particularly problematic is that the new intoxicants meet a curious, adventurous and usually younger clientele. This is shown by cases from Lower Saxony, among others. In Hannover, for example, 16 people had contracted massive "legal high" poisoning after consumption. According to the dpa, a 23-year-old was even in mortal danger. But older people also resort to legal intoxicants. Just a few weeks ago, a big police operation was reported from the Bavarian town of Schweinfurt. There, several men probably smoked herbal mixtures and got health problems. A large search campaign was started, because it could not be ruled out that several of them wander disoriented. "The intake is like Russian roulette: you never really know which substances are in which concentrations in the herbal mixtures. The effect is absolutely unpredictable, "says Urban according to dpa.
Industrially manufactured mass-produced goods
In 2008, the variety "Spice" first appeared on a large scale in Germany. According to Urban, there is now a professional and globalized manufacturing and marketing chain. The "New Psychotropic Substances" (NPS) - as the "legal highs" actually mean - are no longer produced in secret cellar laboratories. Rather, they are professionally and industrially manufactured mass products of high chemical quality, which are also distributed via the Internet. Thus, the goods can be offered very cheap, with prices of less than ten euros per gram.
In case of imminent ban composition is changed
According to Urban, it's not so easy to ban substances because manufacturers immediately responded to an impending ban and changed the composition of their blends. Although "legal highs" are often touted as Amphetaminersatz or advertised that they just make "high", but drug investigators are often tied hands, according to Urban, as these substances are not prohibited and supreme court decisions on this. In June 2014, the European Court of Justice found that "legal highs" are no longer covered by pharmaceutical legislation. (Ad)