Meeting documents

This item is for Members to receive an overview of the issues related to legal highs, the prevalence in Bucks, the financial and social implications of legal high use and the activity and services commissioned by the Council and partners.

Members will consider whether or not there is scope to do more detailed inquiry work on this topic.

Mr Huseyin Djemil, Drug & Alcohol Action Team (DAAT) Commissioner

Mr Lee Scrafton, DAAT Commissioner & Co-ordinator

Ms Amanda Poole, Trading Standards and Community Safety Manager

The Chairman welcomed Mr Huseyin Djemil, Drug and Alcohol team (DAAT) Commissioner, Mr Lee Scrafton, DAAT Commissioner and Co-ordinator and Ms Amanda Poole, Trading Standards and Community Safety Manager.  Ms Poole also introduced Mr Chris Oliver who was taking over as Community Safety Manager following a career in the Police.  The Chairman invited the officers to provide an overview of the work they had completed to date in relation to Legal Highs and the following main points were noted:

·         In 2013, Legal Highs or New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) were mainly used by festival goers and were purchased on the dark web using Bitcoin.  Now the market has matured and become more mainstream.

·         In 2014, BCC commissioned a Needs Analysis which was undertaken by a team of Academics who were able to generate their own dataset.  This has led to an increased understanding of the issues and the prevalence in Bucks.

·         Bucks organised an inter-authority group with Northants, Milton Keynes, Oxfordshire and Bedfordshire to share intelligence on Legal Highs and it became apparent that Bucks were leading the discussions.

·         BCC have delivered training to partners such as Probation and Floating Support providers.as been retained and will deliver more training in future. A Legal Highs trainer has been retained and will deliver more training in future. A practitioner forum was also held in February.

·         A key issue is finding a way of contacting NPS users as they are unlikely to present at treatment centres. BCC have supported an Engagement Café in Aylesbury and are exploring the best way of establishing an online presence.

·          Drug testing procedures are also being reviewed as NPS do not show up on traditional drug tests, which has implications for Safeguarding and Integrated Offender Management (IOM)

·         Public Health and the Police and Crime Commissioner helped to fund the research.  Public Health have shared the findings with Public Health England and John Moores University have asked to undertake a secondary analysis.

·         The DAAT have delivered a members briefing and produced a short video about NPS.

·         The DAAT conducted a joint operation with Trading Standards at a head shop in High Wycombe.  Test purchases were made and substances were tested but nothing illegal was found.  Amanda Poole reported that the South East region had been working over the last few months to identify supply routes and gather intelligence across the region.  Members felt it was important to disrupt the supply chain.

·         It was noted that Mephedrone, a stimulant which had previously been a legal high was now illegal and classified as a Class B drug or a Class A drug if prepared for injection.  A small cohort in Aylesbury were injecting mephedrone in significant quantities and needles were being shared, leading to serious health risks.

·         A member asked if it were not possible to arrest someone for causing harm if they were sharing needles, but officers explained that a virus like Hepatitis C can incubate for up to three months, so it is not immediately apparent. In addition, it would be impossible to prove who was harming who and the DAAT would prefer not to criminalise this behaviour but help individuals to change their lifestyles.

·         The Bucks Herald had featured a piece on Legal Highs and although the article was quite balanced, the headline was not. The DAAT were very careful with any communications they released about NPS as any press or publicity, even if this is negative, leads to experimenting and an increase in use. 

·         There was a discussion about the success that Ireland have had in banning NPS use and members wondered why this approach could not be adopted within the UK.  It was agreed that officers would look into the legislation used in Ireland and report back to the Committee.

ACTION: DAAT Commissioners

·         Drugs were not seen as a priority for Thames Valley Police currently, yet Legal Highs are included in the Bucks Community Safety Plan which was agreed at Cabinet yesterday.  Mr Chris Oliver, new Community Safety Manager commented that whilst drugs were not seen as a priority for Thames Valley Police, the protection of vulnerable people was a priority and Legal Highs would be covered within that.

·         Members congratulated the DAAT officers for the work they had done to date and for raising awareness of the Legal Highs issue, but advised that an Action Plan was now needed with input from all partners, perhaps as part of the wider Community Safety Plan.  Members wanted to see more urgency.

The Chairman thanked Huseyin Djemil, Lee Scrafton, Amanda Poole and Chris Oliver for attending the meeting.  It was agreed that a further update on the development of a partnership Action Plan and timelines would come back to the June 23^rd meeting of the Committee.

ACTION: DAAT Commissioners