170 have been hospitalised in Portugal due to synthetic legal drugs known as 'bath salts'. Source: AAP
AUTHORITIES in Portugal are waging war on the synthetic drugs known as bath salts, amid concerns they are becoming increasingly popular among youths looking for a legal high, despite a ban on selling them to minors.
Adverts for the substances, responsible for a growing number of hospitalisations, are plastered around Lisbon and health authorities now have their eye on the dozens of so-called smartshops selling them.
The proliferation of the synthetic drugs, which reproduce the effects of illicit drugs like cannabis, cocaine, ecstasy, and hallucinogenic plants, has already created problems for European legislators.
Australia's National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC) has also expressed concerns, saying just because they aren't illegal, it doesn't mean they're not harmful.
Portugal introduced legislation in 2001 that decriminalised drug use across the board, a move that health experts credit in part for the decline in drug addiction. Users how have to appear in front of special addiction panels rather than a criminal court.
Now, legislators are turning their attention towards synthetic drugs, with officials on the popular tourist archipelago of Madeira the first to raise concerns.
"Local authorities sounded the alarm because the consumption of these psychoactive substances has increased dramatically in a short amount of time, with serious consequences to boot," national health director Alvaro Carvalho said.
Since January, four people have died and 170 others have needed hospital treatment for psychotic episodes and cardiac complications, he added.
This month, the regional government closed down the island's smartshops and national legislators plan to follow with their own bill.
But the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) is finding that synthetic drug makers switch the chemical make-up of their products as each new substance is outlawed.
In Lisbon, a dozen smartshops are scattered around the bars and clubs of the trendy Bairro Alto and Cais de Sodre districts, with water pipes and rolling papers on display.
Interspersed among them are the legal drugs: small packets of eye-catching and colourful designs that promise an exciting evening, starting at around 10 euros ($A12.54).
"Our customers are above all looking for legal alternatives they can get without running the risk of getting attacked or arrested," said one smartshop owner, who wished to remain anonymous.
But according to EMCDDA chairman Joao Goulao, "The over-the-counter availability of these substances gives a false sense of security, which is really not the case."
A growing number of hospitalisations - often of users in a critical condition - has been reported, and medical personnel struggle to respond "due to their lack of knowledge of the substances", added Goulao, who was among the architects of Portugal's decriminalisation law.
For Marco, a regular cannabis user in his thirties who first bought from a smartshop two years ago when he found it harder to buy from his usual sources, the effect of synthetic marijuana is "much stronger" than the illicit kind.
He voiced concern over the potential repercussions of a ban.
"Those who experimented with these drugs when they were legal, what will they do now?" he said.
"Move on to illicit drugs?"
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