Legal Highs and The Risks

The Work4Uplus programme recently held a Reference Group Meeting at Newry and Mourne Enterprise Agency with its primary referral partners and secondary partners to discuss the increase in the use of Legal Highs and the Risks involved in this type of drug taking.

Pauline Coghlan, the Work4uplus programme manager said “Over the last few years the types of drugs that are currently available has rapidly changed and increased, meaning that every week a new ‘legal highs’ or ‘novel psychoactive substances’( NPS)  is coming onto the market”.

This is causing a lot of confusion for parents and professionals.  In a bid to address this, Work4uplus invited their partner REACT to give an overview on how these NPS’s have come about, the legislation and the main drugs that are being misused and causing serious health  problems in the Newry and Mourne Area.

Recent reports of two schoolgirls who took ill after consuming drugs at the local bus station is another symptom of this very concerning problem, as some of these substances can cause serious medical issues for users.