Thursday 8 May 2014

Glastonbury takes stand on 'legal highs'

Glastonbury has joined the likes of Bestival, Lovebox and Global Gathering warning of the dangers of  'psychoactive synthetic substances' - so called legal highs. Statistics released by the ONS last year showed an 80% increase in legal high-related deaths, from 29 to 52, while health researchers say taking them is like "dancing in a minefield", since the influx of unidentified substances into the market is so fast-paced that it outstrips drug laws. Various festivals including Glastonbury, shut down their sites on Monday 5th May in a so-called 'blackout', part of an Association of Independent Festivals backed initiative to raise awareness of the risks of taking legal highs. Maryon Stewart, Founder of Angelus Foundation, the charity collaborating with the AIF on the campaign, says: "Legal highs are a huge but hidden problem because young people are acting in ignorance and no-one is measuring the harms. We are determined to keep expanding our prevention programme into new areas and bigger events until everyone get the message that the effects of these substances are unpredictable and high risk".

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