Portsmouth MP hits out at '˜legal highs' in parliament debate

Portsmouth South MP Flick Drummond was speaking in the House of Commons as politicians debated the New Psychoactive Substances bill.

And the MP backed a News campaign against the dangerous drugs currently sold over the counter in head shops.

Mrs Drummond also urged Portsmouth City Council to crackdown on head shops in the meantime.

She said: ‘Whatever you call these new psychoactive substances, “legal highs”, or “club drugs”, or by a number of innocent-sounding brand names for specific compounds, the dangers they pose are deliberately hidden by the sellers and producers from the people who consume them.

‘They look all very glitzy like sweets in the shop but they’re extremely dangerous.’

And she told how former justice secretary Chris Grayling MP visited Portsmouth before the election and was shown a head shop.

Mrs Drummond said: ‘We have five head shops in Portsmouth and I took him to one of them where you can buy drugs over the counter

‘It would horrify you, Mr Speaker, to know there’s a shop selling these chemicals just over the road from a primary school in Portsmouth and another one opposite a secondary school.

‘I am also pleased that my local paper, The News, is backing this campaign.

‘Hampshire Police have their own initiative against “lethal highs” as they accurately call them, and I am sure my Hon colleagues in Hampshire will join me in applauding the excellent work they have done in this field.’

The bill is due to become law when it receive royal assent.

The MP added that she has been working with ‘families who have suffered terribly from the effects of these dangerous chemicals’ since before she was elected.

A News campaign is raising awareness of legal high dangers, lobbying the city council to come up with a plan to enforce a ban and calling for government to ban production, distribution and sale of the drugs.