Trading standards working to clear mephedrone from shelves before ban

16 April 2010

Trading standards officers from councils across the country are working with retailers to ensure mephedrone is no longer on sale when the ban on the substance comes into force on Friday (April 16th).

Mephedrone, also known as ‘meow meow’, was previously considered a ‘legal high’ but has been outlawed by new legislation following a rise in the number of people suffering adverse affects from taking it.

The Local Government Association Group, a cross party organisation representing councils in England, previously called for the decision over mephedrone to be made swiftly to clear up a legal quagmire over how it could be dealt with.

When concerns over its safety were heightened, some council trading standards officers were approached to take action against a legal substance using loopholes in regulations intended to oversee the sale of fertilisers, or by manipulating consumer protection laws.

Council officers are now contacting retailers and offering them the chance to voluntarily hand over stocks of mephedrone before the sale of it becomes an offence on April 16th. Dealing with the substance becomes the responsibility of the police on Friday, and members of the public are also being asked to raise the alarm if they are aware of places where it is on sale.

Cllr Paul Bettison, Chairman of LACORS, the LGA body responsible for overseeing regulatory services, said:

“The law on so-called legal highs has been too murky for too long. Councils are seeing more mephedrone users and their families turning to them for help, advice and support and it will be a relief to many people to see the substance made illegal.

“Council staff have not being idle ahead of the change in the rules. Work has been taking place to ensure supplies of mephedrone are handed over to the authorities so that this potentially damaging drug is cleared from shelves as quickly as possible.”

Notes:

Among the councils taking steps to deal with mephedrone are Norfolk, where trading standards officers have teamed up with the police and drug and alcohol action team. Two businesses, one in Norwich and one in Great Yarmouth, have already handed in products labelled as plant food and which it is believed contain mephedrone.

Officers in Haringey have been visiting premises where they believe mephedrone could be on sale, and are asking for residents with any information about the substance to get in touch.

Trading standards staff in North Yorkshire are carrying out checks across the county, including on internet-based sellers, to crack down on those trying to pass off mephedrone, as an innocent product such as plant food or bath salts.

LACORS (Local Authorities Coordinators of Regulatory Services) is the local government central body responsible for overseeing local authority regulatory and related services. Regulatory services is the name given to a group of services which exist to ensure public, consumer, environmental and worker protection. These range from protecting consumers against illegal doorstop selling to checking hygiene standards in restaurants and food factories. Many of the regulatory services that LACORS support are delivered though councils’ environmental health and trading standards services.

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