NHS Choices - Legal Highs

Legal highs are substances used like illegal drugs such as cocaine or cannabis, but not covered by current misuse of drugs laws, and so are legal to possess or to use.

Although these drugs are marketed as legal substances, this doesn’t mean that they are safe or approved for people to use. It just means that they’ve not been declared illegal to use and possess (yet). They are still normally considered illegal to sell under medicines legislation.

Some drugs marketed as legal highs actually contain some ingredients that are illegal to possess.

Legal highs can carry serious health risks. The chemicals they contain have in most cases never been used in drugs for human consumption before, so haven't been tested to show that they are safe. Users can never be certain what they are taking and what the effects might be.

Please see the FRANK website for more information on these substances.