No, I am not sure. The whole thing is so vague it's hard to know which psychoactive substances will be added to the list. From what i'v read, it seems like they are focusing more on all the old/new generations of legal highs, as opposed to natural substances. Will nutmeg be banned? Will all ornamental San Pedro cacti be taken out of garden centres? Not likely... but I wouldn't put it passed them.

Either way, I still can't believe this is happening.

DRUG WARS DON'T WORK!!!

The most depressing aspect of this IMO is that Prime Minister himself used to be a proponent of drug law reform. He actually knows that the war on drugs is a failure and at one point advocated legalisation and regulation as an alternative.

"Politicians attempt to appeal to the lowest common denominator by posturing with tough policies and calling for crackdown after crackdown. Drugs policy has been failing for decades."
DAVID CAMERON, 2005.

Tory Contender (DAVID CAMERON) Calls For More Liberal Drug Laws (2005)
http://www.independent.c...l-drug-laws-6143525.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/10/13/natalie-rowe-mistress-pain-george-osborne_n_4093138.html?utm_hp_ref=uk

I wouldn't take these fools seriously if their actions didn't have such an impact on my life.
https://youtu.be/vj--hT16Jcc

The Chancellor and the Dominatrix
Particularly this bit
And https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Hd3UkZ8Tl8 with the legendary Dennis Skinner.

As far as ethnobotanicals go, take heart; nutmeg might be ok as it is technically a food ingredient; traditional herbal medicines are also exempt - isn't ayahuasca a traditional herbal medicine ? Peyote and San Pedro too? Syrian rue?

The whole bill is a complete piece of nonsense:


But alcohol is a psychoactive substance, obviously, and harms tens of thousands more people than any 'legal high' ever did (albeit through culturally enforced ubiquitous availability). Also, gin, for example, contains psychoactive flavour compounds. Do they intend to ban gin?

Furthermore, hops are a psychoactive substance. Will beer become illegal? And German wheat beer/weissbier has a psychoactive effect separate from that of hops or alcohol. Will wheat beer be considered illegal?

Isn't there some sort of surpreme court in the UK?
This law, should it become reality...has to be appealed and sent to the highest european courts if necessary.

Yeah, getting some lawyers to fight this would be highly desirable. I'm rather wary of writing to my MP asking them to oppose a law banning 'drugz' (although thinking about it, the above examples might be a sufficient argument.)

Say goodbye to nutmeg.

There have been some very interesting amendments to the Bill put forward by the House of Lords.

Take a look at:

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/lbill/2015-2016/0002/amend/ml002-I.htm

Some potentially game-changing amendments include:

• #3, #4, #5, #6 - Regular impact assessments
• #7, #8 – Bill should only cover artificially synthesised substances
• #39 – “Possession for personal use of any psychoactive substances, including psychoactive substances hitherto controlled under the provisions of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, is not a criminal offence.”

A fair few more interesting points there.

Although many take issue with the House of Lords, I do think they are useful in injecting some sanity into the debate.

Baroness Meacher has put her name to some of these amendments.

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-21008326

Thanks, d*l*b. The Lords can sometimes be a 'safety net'; there are some thought-provoking amendments suggested there.

Looking back at the schedule 1 exemptions, it seems that chocolate would be illegal under the original White Paper as it contains theobromine as well as caffeine... and tea contains theophylline, which has a , so I guess that'll be off limits, too.

If this bill gets passed, I'll be straight down the local Police station, handing in my tea bags and cacao stash.

I think the emphasis on "synthesized substances" reflects a baseless bias toward chemicals produced in nature, as though they aren't equally if not more likely to kill you.

MERGED

I know the legal high blanket ban is covered elsewhere on the nexus but I can't post on it and just wanted to share this,,,

After the lords proposed amendments to the UK legal high ban it's good to see a few more sensible voices coming through now. Hopefully it will have some sort of impact on this ridiculous blanket ban on psychoactive substances.

http://www.theguardian.c...f-drugs-for-personal-use

There’s coverage of today’s debate on the Bill in the House of Lords on BBC Parliament tonight at 1am.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b060gsqx

Reading more about tabled amendments, their implications, and what has happened in Ireland after imposing similar regulation to that initially put forward – this seems to have opened quite a can of worms.

There has been only 4 successful prosecutions over the past 5 years in the Republic of Ireland!


Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33226526

Makes me wondering if some action on substances can be done that does not affect usage but does make analyzing a real pain in the ...

For anyone wishing to watch the Lords debate on the BBC, it was aired at 01.35am.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b060gsqx

Evidence means nothing to these people, I wish I could get these precious minutes of my life back, I'm not sure what I was expecting. That irish tory is a complete and utter buffoon.

Well... it passed, having hardly been clarified at all. https://www.gov.uk/gover...ive-substances-bill-2015

genius