Legally flawed, scientifically problematic, potentially harmful: The UK Psychoactive Substance Bill [Editorial] (2015)

This journal has often analysed legislation in the field of drug policy. Rarely has it discussed a proposed law that has such deep problems in its legal and scientific bases. The Psychoactive Substances Bill, which is currently proceeding through the UK Parliament, will (if enacted) create a 'blanket ban' on the production, importation, exportation and supply of all psychoactive substances for human consumption, except for those that are specifically exempted. The Bill provides for a range of civil and criminal penalties, with a maximum seven-year prison sentence.
This editorial will discuss some of the legal flaws and scientific problems that the Bill displays. It will consider some of the likely adverse consequences of the legislation, alongside the possibility of positive effects. We argue that the extraordinarily broad scope of the Bill, its exclusion of any consideration of harms caused by the substances that it bans, and the difficulty of defining these substances by 'psychoactivity' mean that the legislation bans too wide a range of substances and activities and will be difficult to enforce. Such enforcement may also be disproportionate to the harms caused by some of the banned substances and activities, including 'social supply'. The Bill is also likely to lead to a number of unintended consequences due to displacement between substances and markets. We provide examples of such displacement in the cases of the 2010 mephedrone ban and of more recent action against retail NPS outlets in Blackburn. We conclude with some unavoidably pessimistic predictions. [Extract]