Gilani does well to highlight the increasing and concerning use of novel psychoactive substances (NPS) in the UK.1 We have seen the damaging and unpredictable effects of synthetic cannabinoids in prisons and substance misuse services over the last 3 years.
The number of deaths attributable to NPS is increasing year on year and prisoners are transferred to hospitals with tachyarrhythmia, dangerous hypertension, impaired consciousness, and seizures on an almost daily basis from some prisons. A number of deaths have been reported due to NPS abuse.
Worryingly, vulnerable prisoners are targeted and, anecdotally, individuals are bullied into smoking ‘Spice’ (as NPS are colloquially known) while bets are taken on how much can be smoked before the victim collapses.
It is to be hoped that the legislature can make suitable arrangements to criminalise the production, supply, and possession of these dangerous substances. But enforcement will have to be improved if such measures are to prove effective in reducing the harm created by NPS.
- © British Journal of General Practice 2016
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