THE controversial herbal substance Spice, which can be smoked as a substitute for cannabis, has been banned from sale in shops in Jersey.
Spice has been reclassified as a medicinal product, making it a criminal offence to import, market or sell it. The Island’s health officials are pushing for further changes to make it illegal to possess and use the substance.
The maximum penalty for breaching the law is two years in prison. Dr Susan Turnbull, Jersey’s deputy Medical Officer of Health, said: ‘It has been fantastic work by everyone involved. Earlier this year we thought there was nothing we could do about Spice, and now, after a lot of work, it is illegal to import, market or sell it.
‘We hope that the reclassification of Spice will help to protect the people of Jersey from the effects of harmful substances. I particularly hope that it will protect young people who have been fed a marketing message that these substances are safe. The message is that they aren’t safe, and for some people they are the first step towards taking more harmful substances.’
Article posted on 7th November, 2008 - 2.57pm
21 Article Comments
Yet again, the (clueless) Jersey establishment jump on the bandwagon of one or two (again, clueless) politicians with a bee in their collective bonnet.
It’s a shame these people are so ill-informed they cannot make the distinction between the different varieties of these herbal highs.
Spice is not, nor will ever cause hallucinations unless combined with a hallucigen. The ‘hallucinations’ suffered by revellers at Jersey Live were caused by Salvia, which as far as im aware is still entirely legal to sell and posess and an entirely different product to Spice. One could get more of a ‘high’ from ingesting a couple of bottles of Calpol than smoking Spice.
BZP and Spice are still legal to possess, and can readily be bought on the internet and imported for personal use. All that has been acheived by this rediculously ill-informed ‘ban’ is to push those who previously used Spice as a substitute for Cannabis to go right on back to the completely illegal, and given the quality of the product imported to Jersey, far more health damaging ’soap bar’ Cannabis.
Well Done Dr Turnbill, for a health official you seem remarkably wide of the mark especially with the ‘Spice is a gateway to harder drugs’ message.
The shop in question sold ‘legal’ highs only, how exactly was that shop a gateway to harder, illegal drugs? Was there a crack den in the basement, or maybe junkies hiding behind the counter injecting themselves? Or maybe even a meth aphetamine lab in the bathroom?
Those i have spoken too on the subject have simply stated they will just go back to smoking Cannabis, and frankly it is almost as readily available as Spice previously was and given the high percentage of plastics, Oil and other rubbish in Cannabis one would hope a health official would be far more concerned with that.
Maybe Dr Turnbill would also see fit to seek the banning of the sale of Tobacco and Alcohol in the island as well, two products which have been proven (unlike Spice) to cause far more damage to the users’ health, and cost to the health system which supports them.
Report abuse
so now people will use cannabis instead
Bravo, thanks for protecting us
Report abuse
The only problem here is that yes spice was a substitute for cannabis, a substance that can be relatively hard to buy in the island. However banning the sale of spice will make no difference at all to whether or not someone chooses to start smoking substances like this. If anything it has pushed those who were regular users of spice towards cannabis instead, and equally those who would have decided to start smoking spice will probably find cannabis. Thus I can imagine anyone who sells cannabis in the island is going to be over the moon. The simple matter of fact is, most people choose to take drugs at their own free will, whether it’s spice or cannabis, they will try and eventually get their hands on it. Nothing has been solved, and has probably made matters worse.
Report abuse
I would only ask why Spice has not been banned in the UK?
Report abuse
yet again drugs are used as a political football !
frankly no-one deserves a pat on the back for the work they have done , i’ll be happy and pleased and singing the praises of those involved when the REAL danger drugs have been tackled to this degree.
i’m gonna laugh myself silly when they release their yearly statistics on drug use in the island and act all shocked when they realise that illegal drug use has gone through the roof !!
all you have achieved with this action is forcing people back into the world of illegal substances and frankly way more dangerous and harmful drug use , so congrats , really great work !
when are you going to realise banning doesn’t solve anything , it just moves the problem elsewhere.
Report abuse
This has literally acheived nothing. Even though Spice is now a ‘medicinal’ product, as the first commenter points out, it is not illegal to import medicinal products for personal use. Or for the use of anyone in your household, for that matter. So Spice fans can just buy online.
Also, depending on how Spice is manufactured, it may well be classed as a herbal remedy, and be exempt from the sales ban entirely. It is actually marketed as a kind of incense, so it might already be exempt as it is not intended to be ingested by humans.
But what bothers me about this is, what has it got to do with health officials in the first place? They haven’t banned it because it’s bad for you; they don’t even know if it is. There’s no evidence either way. They juest decided to ban it because it is a drug, and they disapprove of people getting stoned. They are payed to worry about public health, not to be the morality police.
Report abuse
138 commercially avallible mixes that work, 90% contain no synthetics, Therefore plant mass, it is unavoidable that one or two of the major exporters are going to prosecute the states of jersey, If they ban the wrong ones..Should be fun to watch..As for spice it has a horrible anesthetic in it,By the way Phsche deli messed up when they regesterd the trade mark…Called it a smoking mix (thats why they are worried) and wont fight…Shows a level of stupidity.
personally I would prefer people to use a legal product then fuel criminallity and fill the prisons.
Report abuse
The undisguised jubilation of the deputy medical officer is unseemly.
One might hope that the decision forms the subject of legal challenge in due course.
Report abuse
People must be dumb smoking this rubbish anyhow. Legal or illegal there is more to life then taking stupid stimulants to have a good time.
Report abuse
It’s a damm shame these health ministers don’t read these comments – as a cannabis user I actually went to spice because it was legal, provided a less harmful effect and I even went to the trouble of researching the ingredients (all of which are perfectly safe)
It is marketed online as incense however if people want to smoke insence it’s there own business (some people even smoke tea! you going to make that illegal too?) Spice was a very effective way to prevent drug use – oh big whoop it has similar effects to cannabis – is that all they are interested in stopping? Every time they stop cannabis coming into the island the amount of people taking harder drugs rises (As acid, crack and heroin can be found A LOT easier than cannabis – why aren’t they actually preventing that coming through to the island?)
Report abuse
what a shame the Jersey government did not seize the opportunity to control the sale of the substance . They could have taxed the substance to hilt thereby making some money to pay for the policing of it and any ill health users end up with. They could have put controls on who and where it could be sold (chemists ?) and at what age it could be purchased. they could produce guidelines to what is a safe level of use etc etc etc. No, what have they done, driven it underground where sleazy dealers will make immoral large profits on selling it, these same sleazebags will also be pushing dangerous class A B and C drugs. I wonder how many lives this short sighted knee jerk response to an obviously popular recreational substance will cost in the long run and how many rich drug pushers will retire to nice places to spend their untaxed ill-gotten gains.
Report abuse
“for some people they are the first step towards taking more harmful substances”
right ok, I’ll pop out and get some weed instead then, thanks for the protection
Report abuse
Will be very interesting to see whether this law is enforced in any way shape or form? Also, when are the list of banned substances going to be published? You cant just ban spice, it has to be the individual components! How would anyone know whether they are breaking the law otherwise?
Report abuse
can you still buy spice online in small ammounts for personnal use? This ‘importing’ argument isnt as clear as it could be and Id rather not have a policeman on my door simply for trying to wind down and chill after a long day at work
Report abuse
I know alot of people who smoked spice because they didnt want to smoke Cannabis because of legal isues, this makes sense to me.
Spice was one of those mixtures that allowed people to just wind down at the end of the day, which is entirly understandable to me. its no different from comming back after work having a glass of wine or somthing and watching the TV.
And to be perfectly Honest id rather walk through St Helier on a saterday night knowing that everyone is on Spice than Alcohole because Drunk people are agressiv and start fights over anything.
I also agree with some of the comments left here, i do believe by banning this alot of the people who left Cannabis for spice will go back to Cannabis it will most definatly increase the ammount comming in.
Report abuse
This Island is a joke! The only way to chance it is to vote for better politicians but you where all to high on spice to be bothered to vote. You had your chance.
Report abuse
To be honest, if people’s lives are so rubbish that they need to take drugs (of any kind) then we should pity them. They’re not going to stop and they’re very unlikely to actually get off their backsides and try and make their lives better.
As long as they are not committing crimes to get money for these drugs and aren’t commmitting crimes because of these drugs then we should be more bothered about tackling anti-social behaviour period. Anti-social behaviour often has nothing to do with drink or drugs, some people are just rotten to the core.
It is far more important that we tackle anti-social behaviour as this has more of a bad effect on the kind, law-abiding citizen than someone having a joint in the privacy of their own home.
I am very anti-drugs but I am even more against the lack of policing of an evening when people are shouting and screaming and stopping me getting to sleep!
What happened to breach of the peace laws? They don’t seem to apply anymore!
Report abuse
I have smoked all varieties of the spice range and have had no side effects other than being chilled out.
I have also smoked ‘Salvia divinorum’ which is an hallucigen. Now, Salvia, is very intense which is proberly the reason for all this nonsence as Salvia will literally take you to another world.
Now, due to the recent change with regards to spice ‘reclassification’. I am now back on the good old cannabis! – Thanks Dr Susan Turnbull.
I actually thought i was doing myself a favour buying spice.
I wasn’t doing anything illegal, the only person i was affecting was… me.
I wouldn’t have to meet ‘dodgy’ drug dealers around the island.
I also never felt ‘addicted’ to spice unlike cannabis.
Now… Just because a few mothers moan about there childran smoking spice doesn’t mean an Island wide ban importing, market or selling spice should take place.
My parents moan that i smoke tabacco… **State emergency** … lets ban tabacco… Because im sure if that happened… Half the island if not more would be up in arms.
Furthermore, i would also like to see the conclusive evidance supporting that smoking spice is ‘harmful’.
One more point, I wrote this after smoking some cannabis.
Report abuse
“To be honest, if people’s lives are so rubbish that they need to take drugs (of any kind) then we should pity them. They’re not going to stop and they’re very unlikely to actually get off their backsides and try and make their lives better.”
Are all drugs really that bad??
if you yourself do not drink alchohol, smoke ciggarettes, or take any legal/illegal, safe/unsafe drugs, Then I suppose your statement is at least consistent with your own behaviour. But to be honest, I think it much more likely that you are yet another victim of social bias.
Presuming you drink alchohol, (In a totally mature and safe way) consider this, the way i smoke my fine jamaican bud, is not all that different! if you ignore the differences in social (and legal) acceptance,
It is only your attitude that makes you think all illegal drugs are bad.
the only difference is that I (unlike you) make my own opinion about drugs, whether illegal or legal. I do not simply accept the opinion layed down by the media, and the law.
I guess this is probably down to my age, At the tender age of seventeen, I don’t realy care if I’m breaking the law, in fact, it gives me a great deal of satisfaction to feel that I am right, and the law is wrong. (maybe one day I will learn the error of my ways)
now, if i was a forty-two year old saleswoman living on a little backward island (don’t get me wrong, jersey is awesome), i would be outraged that those little bastards were outside my house, drinking beer & smoking pot, and most of all, keeping me awake! (bastards!)
But I ask you this, Think back to your school days, where you determinedly abstained from smoking, drinking or taking any drugs of any kind. I expect you witnessed some of your peers fall into this group of people, maybe they smoked weed, a couple of them possibly went on to worse things, and ended up having problems further down the line.
Well, we all know our share of wreck heads. people who take it too far, and screw everything up. But realy, we aren’t all like that!
Please, don’t Pity me!
i’d like to take this opportunity to say, Cannabis is awesome!
Seriously…
I guess i’ve missed the point completely with what I have written here, but guess what? Im baked
I’ll leave you with a quote from our good friend, Buddha. ( it think it was buddha, who knows)
Abstaining from everything is as bad as indulging in everything.
its all about moderation.
well, that was pointless/
I love you mary jane!
Report abuse
One more thing, this is our country, its high time we stop living like slaves in our own country, having to worry about going to jail over a stupid joint, our founding fathers fought for less government, not a nanny state.
Report abuse
The rise of puritanism must be stopped.
Report abuse