Substance Misuse

• Cannabis/spice
• MDMA
• Xanax
• Alcohol
• Tobacco

The Psychoactive Substances Act is mainly targeted at manufacturers and retailers of psychoactive substances and aims to disrupt the supply chain and impose significant penalties for those involved in the production and distribution.

However the individual could be affected in a number of ways:

• The importing of a psychoactive substance includes buying them from a non-UK based website, which could lead to individuals being prosecuted.
•  The offence to ‘supply’ refers not just to selling psychoactive substances but also covers giving them away for example sharing them with friends

Having a criminal record could impact on your future study, employment and travel plans

•  You could experience nose bleeds, sickness, black outs, short-term memory loss, severe mood swings, anxiety, panic, confusion, paranoia, or seizures to name just a few side effects
• For some the effects are more serious with their night ending in A&E or in death
• They can cause serious problems to mental health such as hallucinations, paranoia, anxiety, mood swings
• These substances  can reduce inhibitions, and cause changes in behaviour that can lead you to doing things totally out of character or make you take greater risks than you would normally

The ingredients in legal highs can change and so can the quantities –  so you can never know what you are taking or the strength of the product.

Even if you were fine last time, the next time could be a different story

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General information:

Health advice

Support Services

Youth Commission member Lina created this presentation about substance misuse.   If you want an editable version of this presentation, please Contact Us, select Youth Commission from the drop-down list, and ask for access to the Substance Misuse presentation.