UAE experts warn about dangers of ‘legal highs’

Synthetic cannabis was banned last year but hundreds of new psychoactive substances are flooding the market to take its place.

Spice, the most popularly known synthetic cannabis, was banned in the UAE last year after it was linked to a number of deaths. Leon Neal/AFP

ABU DHABI // Health experts have renewed warnings of the dangers of so-called “legal highs” amid fears of a surge in the number of synthetic drugs on the market.

More than 280 new psychoactive substances have been reported to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, and in a report last month 73 new psychoactive substances were listed for the first time, compared with 49 in 2011, 41 in 2010 and 24 in 2009.

In the UAE, 44 new drugs found on the international market, all synthetic alternatives to cannabis, were added last month to the national banned substance list. Nine of these had already been found in the country.

“Just because something is not illegal yet doesn’t mean that it’s OK to take it or it is good for you,” said Dr Radia Khan, a consultant in internal medicine at Burjeel Hospital in Abu Dhabi.

The drugs can cause neurocognitive behaviour problems, meaning they affect a person’s ability to think, she said.

“In the long term if someone is using them it’s going to affect their ability to function in life, because it’s going to affect their work, their family life.”

The synthetic drugs are often produced in China and India and imported in bulk to Europe, where they are processed, packaged and sold.

Spice, the best known synthetic cannabis, was banned here last year after it was linked to a number of deaths. Anyone found taking the drug faces a minimum of four years in jail and those supplying it could receive the death penalty.

However, many alternatives have surfaced to take the place of those banned. Products advertised on the internet such as Black Mamba, Cloud 9 and Purple Spice are among a host of synthetic drugs promising users a “legal high”.

On offer for order were LSD-alternative Space Trips for “psycho-recreational purposes”, energy and mind stimulant Rave – “a total natural, legal and mind-blowing energy booster” – and XTZ, a “harm-free” option to Ecstasy.

But health experts say there is no such thing as a safe or harm-free way of getting high.

“Of course it’s very dangerous. These medicines are not professionally made. Secondly, there are no studies on the combination to see what is the side effect, so it may have a cancerous side effect,” said Dr Hussein Haddad, a pharmacist in Abu Dhabi.

“Normally, medicine has to have been first tested on animals and then human volunteers and then launched in the market after approval but with these there are no studies and trials, just ‘make and take’.”

Other problems could be caused by people taking the drug the wrong way, he said.

“Maybe it has to be taken orally but they inhale it which leads to a stroke and then they will be dead.

"Also, they do not know the effects on other organs. It may make them high in the brain but destroy their liver and kidneys."
Johanna Griffiths, a counsellor at the Lifeworks Centre in Dubai, said she has been aware of people using legal highs. Butane gas – used in lighters and as a propellant in aerosol sprays – is one example, she said, and has been linked to several deaths in the emirate.

“I would warn them of the severe dangers inflicted on them,” she said. “A single inhalation from a deodorant spray or cigarette lighter can be enough to kill. It can cause drowsiness, suffocation, heart palpitations, temporary memory loss or death when inhaled, typically by ‘sudden sniffing syndrome’.”