Executive Calls For Immediate Mephedrone Ban

The Health Minister and the Junior Ministers in OFMDFM, called last week for the drug to be outlawed, but the Executive believes that the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) should be in no doubt as to the strength of feeling across the community.

The Executive reaffirmed that it fully supports the Health Minister's call on the British Home Secretary to ban the drug.

Speaking following the meeting in Stormont Castle, First Minister Peter Robinson and deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said: "Anyone who has listened to the heart-rending stories of parents whose children have suffered the tragic consequences attached to the abuse of this so called 'legal high', cannot fail to have been touched by what they heard.

"We will be writing immediately to the ACMD to make clear to them, in the strongest possible terms, of our concern in relation to this issue.

"The ACMD is due to report to the Home Office next week on its findings into Mephedrone and we would urge all parties involved to ensure that this drug is banned.

"As Ministers and indeed as parents and grandparents ourselves, we are committed to doing all in our power to educate and protect our young people from the pernicious evil of drugs in whatever form they take."