UK only 'scratching the surface' on 'legal high' misuse

Legal highs are so popular the only option is to "educate people who are using them" about how they can make safer choices about the drugs they take, an addiction specialist told Good Morning Britain.

Associate medical director of the CRI, David Bremner, said: "In a matter of days a new drug will be released that will have one molecule changed that then beats the law so that it is no longer illegal...all we can do is educate people who are using them on how to make safer choices."

Professor Fabrizio Schifano, CRI's Consultant Psychiatrist, has been at the forefront of collating evidence around the UK's legal high situation.

Speaking about the Strange Molecules campaign, he said:

More: UK only 'scratching the surface' on 'legal high' misuse

One of the UK's biggest drug and alcohol charities, CRI, has warned that the UK is "only scratching the surface" posed by Novel Psychoactive Substance (NPS) or 'legal high' misuse.

As part of its new campaign, CRI has launched strangemolecules.org.uk to keep young people informed of the facts as new drugs are discovered every week.

David Biddle, Chief Executive of CRI, says the charity is committed to informing the debate, he said:

"Some of these substances are highly potent and can be very risky, possibly up to 10,000 times stronger than the street drugs they emulate, with tiny amounts able to trigger extreme psychoactive responses."