THE manager of a shop, which previously sold legal highs, said he had taken a “moral decision” to stop selling them.

Sanjay Asal, from Smokers World, in Higher Church Street, Blackburn, said a visit from Trading Standards had confirmed to him why he should not provide them for customers.

MORE TOP STORIES:

He said: “I used to sell legal highs. They have been classed as dangerous and unsafe by Trading Standards.

“I think it is a good idea to ban them because I have seen the effects they had on my customers.

“Trading Standards helped me make a moral decision.

“What was happening is that 18 and 19-year-olds were buying the legal highs, but they were passing them on to kids as young as 12 and 13.

“The people who take them become very withdrawn.

“They lose their appetite and they look like drug addicts, like they are highly dependent on class A drugs.

“Nobody knows what effect they will have on the body long-term.”

Qulzam Nain, owner of Smokers Paradise, in Accrington Road, Blackburn, said he had also received a visit from officials and said a definitive rule on whether legal highs were allowed or not was needed.

He said: “The government has to ban them completely. Legal highs do not do any good to people.

“But I think people will just go to other towns like Accrington or Burnley to buy them if they’re banned in Blackburn. People will travel for them.”