Council vows to ‘shut down' Derry shops selling 'legal highs'

The new Derry and Strabane council have pledged to “shut down” shops in the city selling so-called “legal highs.”

The pledge came after local councillors heard from the mother of a young man who died after ‘legal highs’.

Karen Audino, of the United Communities Against Drugs (UCAD), told councillors how her son, Jimmy (pictured), suffered a massive heart attack after taking the legal high known as “Spice.”

Speaking at a meeting of the council’s Health and Community Committee, she described how Jimmy, a “big strapping lad” who played hurling for St Eunan’s in Letterkenny and Donegal, had bought the product from a shop while visiting his father in Kent.

After being taken to hospital, Jimmy’s brain swelled to the point where it crushed his brain stem.

Ms Audino told the meeting that she then travelled with her daughter to England to turn her son’s life support machine off.

“This product just wiped him out,” she said.

“We need to get away from the term ‘legal’ because kids think they’re safe and you can buy them in shops, but they are 100 times stronger than the drugs they mimic.”

She added there were 70 deaths in Northern Ireland last year as a result of legal highs, with an increase in suicides, but added that there was no ‘rehab in place’ for those affected by the products.

“They’re highly addictive, easily accessed and very cheap to buy, and it’s very concerning that children can just walk in and purchase them.”

Ms Audino, who lives in Letterkenny, called on the council to be “pro-active” and “make a stand” against shops who sell legal highs, using the powers it had under Environmental Health and trading standards.

Responding, the Independent councillor Paul Gallagher made a proposal from the floor that council use the powers available to crack down on shops in the council area selling such products.

“I propose that this council attack the scourge of legal highs, and use our powers under trading standards to go out to the places selling this stuff and shut them down,” he said.

His proposal was seconded by the Independent councillor for the Moor area, Gary Donnelly, who said “legal highs” were “destroying families” in the city.

“They’re banned in the 26 counties, but young people from Donegal can just jump on a bus to Derry or Omagh and buy them.

“The other problem is that no one knows what’s in them , so doctors don’t know how to treat someone who is overdosing on them, all they can do is stabilise them.” Meanwhile, Independent councillor Darren O’Reilly paid tribute to Ms Audino stating many families in Derry felt “powerless” when it came to “legal highs.”

“There are shops selling them in the city centre with no regulations, and this needs to be regulated or stopped,” he added.

Sinn Fein’s Kevin Campbell said council should do “all in its power” to stop the sale of “legal highs.”