DRUGS : LEGAL HIGHS: COMMISSION PROPOSES QUICKER RESPONSE.

The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) was the fastest to react - positively - to the European Commission's proposal to tackle the "boom" of synthetic drugs, mood enhancers that give legal highs', including psychoactive substances that imitate the effects of ecstasy or cocaine. These drugs are on the market and are not sufficiently controlled.

The "Miami cannibal" story, in spring 2012, brought to the public's attention the fact that these drugs have been unleashed on the European market, in particular in the North and the East, with growing appeal to young people. It is fairly easy to have access to these drugs, in particular on the internet or in "head shops" - shops that specialise in drug ersatz. In total, over 300 such substances have been detected since 1997. For instance, sales of "spy" - which is a gross imitation of cannabis - have exploded. The effects have not been tested on humans but have now proven devastating. Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding said: "The substance 5-IT apparently killed 24 people in four European countries in less than five months, and the 4-MA, which imitates amphetamines, has been linked to 21 deaths". Reding mentioned the case of a person who died in Belfast two months ago after taking a "China White" bought on the street. "This is why the Commission is currently taking strong measures to protect Europeans, young people especially, against the risks caused by these mood enhancers," Reding said, stressing that the targeted ban system was outdated.

The regulation and the directive, which the member states and the European Parliament have to look at, are supposed to help take harmful substances off the market faster. The time needed to ban a product would drop from two years minimum to ten months. In very serious cases, withdrawing a drug from the market would take effect immediately, lasting a year...