CALLS have been made to ban legal highs from public places in Blackburn.

The move comes as three shops said they had voluntarily stopped selling the drugs after being warned of the dangers to users by Trading Standards.

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Politicians said they wanted to follow Lincoln, which this week became the first place in the UK to introduce a ban on people taking legal highs in public spaces.

Bosses at Lancashire County Council said they would also be speaking to the authority to see if the move would work in other East Lancashire towns.

The drugs, which are marked ‘not suitable for human consumption’, are often smoked or injected.

There have been several high profile cases involving legal highs, including the killing of Blackburn teenager Ashley Meadowcroft, who was stabbed to death by Rebecca Tootle in September. She had been taking legal high Happy Joker before she plunged the blade into his chest.

Cases have also been reported of local youngsters needing hospital treatment after taking the substances.

Legal highs have the same, or similar effects, as drugs such as cocaine and ecstasy, but are not controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act.

Side effects can include heart palpitations, vomiting, dizziness, fainting, panic attacks and psychosis although specific effects are not always known as they have not been properly analysed.

In many cases, they are designed to mimic class A drugs, but are structurally different enough to avoid them being classified as illegal substances.

It is therefore legal to possess, sell and use them.

Former legal high retailers told how they took the ‘moral decision’ to stop selling the products after seeing the effects they had on their customers.

Blackburn MP Jack Straw said he thought it was a ‘good idea’ that Blackburn followed the lead of Lincoln and banned legal highs in public places.

He said: “I think the council will need to look at the practicalities and whether there are any enforcement costs, but I think it is a good idea.”

Mr Straw said he had visited premises selling legal highs in the town and spoken to workers about the dangers.

Hyndburn MP Graham Jones, who has campaigned against the use of legal highs, said he believed councils should go even further than banning their use in public.

He said: “It is important to ban them, but it is also important to transfer the liability to the retailer so they would always be deeply concerned that if they sold something that had an adverse effect on somebody’s health, they would be liable.”

Coun Yusuf Jan-Virmani, Blackburn with Darwen’s executive member for neighbourhoods, housing and customer services, said officers had visited shops and talked to sellers about the effects of legal highs, resulting in three agreeing to stop providing them.

He said: “There is growing recognition of this issue across the country with concerns over the side effects and consequences of taking legal highs.

“In Blackburn with Darwen we’re doing our part working to educate local retailers selling these products about what it is they’re selling and the related harms.”

Paul Noone, assistant director for Lancashire County Council trading standards service, said: “We’re currently working with the police and community safety partnerships to build up evidence of problems caused to communities by these products and establish an approach which could work consistently across the whole Lancashire area.

“We’re liaising with the first authorities in the country to use the new powers, to see if we can learn from their experience.”

Clive Grunshaw, Lancashire’s police and crime commissioner, said he would support the action in a bid to tackle anti-social behaviour problems that are often linked to legal highs.

He said: “Legal highs just like illegal drugs can cause particular problems for police and local areas. The issue is one that local councils would need to take action on, but they would certainly have my support if they felt legal highs were causing a particular problem.”