[Shasown]

Originally Posted by Judas Iscariot

Of course not, but they are still legal. I hope you would have went on the same rant to anyone discussing their favourite lagers in a thread. From a general standpoint there is no difference whatsoever between that and this.

They are legal simply from the viewpoint that they havent yet been banned because of their effect on the body, sooner or later someone may actually research their long term effects on the body and then no doubt they will be banned. Lat year the UK Government banned several substances feted as Legal Highs. (Spice, GBL, BZP)

We do however have studies on the long term effects of alcohol in general both in the damage to the individual and also to society in general. If it was a substance that had just been brought in for recreational use chances are it would be banned too. However like tobacco its a nice little earner for government by way of taxes. So it wont be banned in the near future. Attempts are underway to reduce alcohol abuse including studies looking at the possibility to price alcohol by strength with minimum prices so supermarkets etc cant use it a loss leader.

The aforementioned mephedrone is probably next on the list because its sold as a plant food product. However it has had more than a little bad publicity in the media. Its banned in several European countries now because of its dangers.

Last Year Doctor David Nutt who was chair on the Advisory Council for the Misuse of Drugs was sacked because he criticised the Governments policy on drugs stating that ecstasy etc was safer than a lot of the so called legal highs because they knew what its effects both long term and short term on the body. It had undergone rigorous tests. They also knew its chemical composition.

Because of the problem of as soon as one substance is banned someone else sidesteps the law by changing its composition slightly and creates a replacement, a consultation paper is under way, looking at the legalities of actually banning all mood/physiological altering chemical substances if found on a person and there is no reason to have it. For example although mephedrone is sold as a garden fertiliser, why would a teenager at a rave need tablets of it?

Most commercial lagers are pish. No ifs or buts.