Legal Highs have been a problem in Newcastle for a few years now. However, since the closure of iDeaLA shop last year, the issue has spiralled out of control. It has been brought to the public eye on numerous occasions recently in the Newcastle Chronicle.

Small corner shops and street dealers alike are buying packets of these so called legal highs whose contents have not been examined or tested and selling them on to young people and adults alike, with devastating effects. From breathing difficulties to seizures, some of these untested substances have caused life-threatening situations. These products are 100 times more dangerous than tested Legal Highs and there is no way of gaging the actual seriousness of the issue as we simply do not know what is being sold and by whom.
Northumbria Police and the Chronicle have both recently issued warnings and crackdowns but the problem is steadily worsening - not getting better. It is becoming a near daily occurrence in the local news and papers.

iDeaLA shop while it was open, operated in full co-operation with both Newcastle Council and Northumbria Police. Their products had been tried and tested and the contents of the packets were checked before reselling to the customer to ensure the ingredients on the back of the packet were correct.

To purchase Legal Highs from iDeaLA shop you had to meet a tight set of guidelines and were issued a members identity card. To become a member you had to provide proof of identity, income and address and your purchases were recorded and monitored strictly. Young people had almost no way of gaining access to the product and the customers were advised correctly by staff who had actual knowledge of the product and a direct cctv link to Northumbria Police.

This is not an endorsement of the way people are behaving in Newcastle due to Legal Highs or encouragement in any way for anyone to start using the substance. It is simply recognition that it is a serious problem in Newcastle, there are hundreds of people battling addiction with the substance and up until now there is no treatment or medical alternative to the substances. It has been used by addicts of much worse, illegal substances to bring control into their lives and many case studies show examples of hard drug users 'turning their lives around' through the availability of a less damage, legal to purchase, regulated substance.

Many people are in the belief that the issue surrounding Legal Highs could be made a lot better and more manageable with the removal of the illegal, back-street selling of the product, and the re-enstatement of the one institution that sold the product correctly and in full co-operation of the local authorities. If you agree that the problem needs addressing please leave your signature and hopefully bring the growing issue with legal highs in the streets of Newcastle under control.