Herbal Highs - how safe are they really?
As this article in The Observer (link below) recognises, it is likely that the average consumer knows very little about what substances constitute a ‘legal’ herbal high, which are easily available on many high streets. Once considered to be caffeine fuelled alternative to ecstasy and cocaine the shops which sell paraphernalia related to drug use now stock ‘herbal highs’ that contain relatively untested substances, included drugs like benzylpiperazine (BZP).
“BZP has never been tested or marketed as a pharmaceutical, so its health consequences were unknown” and therefore the risks were also unknown, but this fact didn’t stop this drug from being sold all over the world - mostly under the guise that it is safer than the illegal alternatives, but is it? The EU is now working to establish legislation to protect users from the harmful side effects associated with this specific drug, but how many more unknown and potentially dangerous ‘herbal highs’ are out there and what do you think should be done about the legal sale of such products?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/apr/26/drugs-legal-substances-risks