People continue to present to hospitals with serious medical and psychiatric problems from former "legal highs" despite the crackdown on head shops, according to a respected doctor.
Brendan Kelly, senior lecturer in psychiatry at University College Dublin, said a series of research papers highlight the "substantial public health problem" presented by these drugs.
Mr Kelly, who is also editor-in- chief of the Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine, said there had been a "significant regulatory response" to the growth in head shops. "However, people continue to present to Irish hospitals with serious medical and psychiatric sequelae [abnormal conditions] following the use of substances such as mephedrone," he said.
He said the journal had a supplement devoted to the problems caused by head shop drugs.
"There may be fewer head shops on the streets, but head shop drugs have not gone away."
Source: Cormac O’Keeffe, Irish Examiner, 12/05/2011
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