A substance with stimulant or mood-altering properties whose sale or use is not banned by current legislation regarding the misuse of drugs.
the US and Australia have been swift to clamp down on legal highs, and the UK seems ready to follow suit
Example sentencesExamples
He added: "The emergence of 'legal highs' is a major feature of Europe's drugs problem today."
A Home Office move to outlaw "legal highs" is doomed to failure because dealers are already developing other substances, say toxicologists.
It is banned in several countries, including the United States and Sweden, and is classed as a controlled substance, along with other "legal highs", by the British Government from Wednesday.
An example of such a substance is the legal high benzylpiperazine.
Mr Johnson said: "Legal highs are an emerging threat, particularly to young people, and we have a duty to educate them about the dangers."
It's 10.30 on a Saturday night in Wellington and, two-thirds of the way up Cuba St, legal highs are being dispensed to a steady stream of punters through a manned vending window in the store-front of Cosmic Corner.
Scorpions rank along with spiders, snakes and crocodiles as a major phobia, but for some wealthy Indians their venom has become the source of a legal high.
The legal highs we have been hearing about, such as those from benzylpiperazine, have been discussed with me by quite a few constituents.
Pills offering "legal highs" were today declared illegal by the UK medicines regulator because they contain a dangerous anti-worming agent.
No one disagrees with trying to do something about those so-called legal highs, but there has to be a process whereby we get it right; otherwise, we miss the target.
Some legal highs might be safe but there are others that can be heavily addictive.
Legislation regulating the sale of benzylpiperazine (BZP) and potentially a raft of other "legal highs" was passed by Parliament last month.
Benzylpiperazine and legal highs, as they are known as at the moment, have no regulation around them.
The legal high, which has been linked to up to 25 deaths in England and Scotland, will be banned and made a Class B drug, he said.
What we need to do is educate young people because I have now come to realise that people as young as 11 are taking legal highs by the bucket-full.
Sasha won't promote other legal highs for fear that they'll be synthesized & sold on the street.
Does the Minister agree that substances other than legal highs that are abused, such as solvents, air fresheners, and liquefied petroleum gas, have legitimate public uses?
A campaign targeting students and clubbers warning of the dangers of legal highs will be launched to coincide with the start of the university term.
Some internet forum users have described the "legal high" as "the saviour of clubland" on account of its easy availability and low price.