Tragic death of Donegal man leads MP to call for UK ban on legal highs

 

A British MP has called for a review of the status of legal highs in the UK after several deaths including that of Donegal man, 20 year-old Jimmy Guichard.
He suffered a heart attack and severe brain damage shortly after smoking a mystery substance.
His mother Karen Audino travelled from Donegal to Kent to see her son before his life support was switched off.
Karen launched a Facebook campaign backed by two Tory MPs – she wants legal high shops banned so nobody else has to go through the same pain she did.
Home Office Minister Norman Baker yesterday warned said: “People think they are safe and legal when they may not be.”
The MP said: “I have initiated a review of so-called legal highs, which are a particular problem at the moment and becoming more serious than some of the traditional drugs.”
He said no-one really knew the long-term consequences of legal highs.
Mr Baker said: “We have a history of knowing what cocaine does or heroin does over decades and we are able to come up with some sort of policy.
“There is no such history of knowledge with some of these substances.”
Campaigners said legal highs cause more than 50 deaths a year.