WARNING! Just because a drug is (or was) legal doesn't mean it is safe. In fact the opposite is true. These drugs have never been tested, no-one knows their strength or if there is a safe dose, and because they are new we have no idea about possible long term effects.
New drugs are appearing almost every day at the moment, eg sparkle, supercoke and sub coca dragon. They are usually chemicals, often they are produced in amateur laboratories overseas, imported in bulk and sold locally. Therefore they cannot be considered 'natural' in any sense, there is no guarantee of quality and the drug may be contaminated with other substances or disease.
Some facts about so called ‘legal highs’
So called ‘legal highs’ are substances that are taken to achieve an altered state of mind (a “high”), and are or were until recently legal to possess. Some of these are now illegal.
There are a large number of substances, some sold under brand names, known as ‘legal highs’, some examples are: GBL, BZP, Mephedrone, and "Spice”.
They can be called all kinds of names, for example: Legal E, Party Pills, Fast Lane, Silver Bullet.
Some legal highs can have similar effects to stimulant or depressant drugs (uppers or downers) that are illegal, such as euphoria and reduced inhibitions, and a range of side effects such as paranoia, fits and even a risk of coma or death.
You usually can’t know exactly what you’re really taking if you take a ‘legal high’, so the effects can be very unpredictable.
Just because they are or were legal to possess doesn’t mean they are safe.
Even if still legal, most of theses substances are illegal to sell, supply, or advertise for human consumption, because of their effects on the body.
Legal highs can contain a range of potentially dangerous chemicals, and their chemical makeup changes all the time - so you can never be 100% certain
you have bought, and what the effects might be.
Some legal highs can have similar effects to stimulant, hallucinogenic or depressant drugs that have always been illegal, such as euphoria (extreme happiness) and reduced inhibitions, and a range of side effects such as paranoia, fits and even a risk of coma or death.
Many legal highs have a mixture of stimulant and hallucinogenic effects, like ecstasy or MDMA, and have been chemically created in laboratories to mimic the effects of illegal drugs. There are hundreds or thousands of drugs in this category each having varying degrees of stimulant or hallucinogenic effects and all pretty much untested so possible side effects and long term problems are unknown.
The chemicals in legal highs have, in most cases, never before been used as drugs, so have had no tests performed on them to show that they are safe.
Most other drugs do they have a long history of use, so that health problems would have become apparent.
Legal highs can carry a serious health risk.
Some legal highs, such as GBL, have been implicated in some cases of death.
You increase the risk if you combine alcohol with any substance that causes a ‘high’, including the risk of death.