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The European Commission says it will clamp down on the sale of "legal highs" or psychotropic drugs legally used in the pharmaceutical or cosmetic industries, which can have effects similar to those of illegal drugs such as cocaine or ecstasy. These are usually sold on the Internet as, for example, bath salts or cones of incense.
"New drugs, which are spreading faster and faster in Europe, must be banned more quickly" once a procedure is launched. In other words, within a ten month delay rather than two years as is currently the case, [reports German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung.
An immediate one year ban will also be allowed.
The number of these types of drugs "tripled between 2009 and 2013," the paper says. The proposal, presented by Commissioners Viviane Reding for Justice, Antonio Tajani for Industry and Tonio Borg for Health, to the European Parliament and to the Member States also stipulates that Member States will be able to inflict a prison sentence of up to three years.
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