'Growing concern' over legal high use in Wales

Public Health Wales said neither the short term nor long term effects of legal highs are well understood

A campaign to tackle the use of so-called legal highs is beginning following concerns about increased use.

Sands Cymru, Drugaid Cymru and Dash, are launching an initiative on Wednesday to tackle the problem.

Sands Cymru chief executive Ifor Glyn said: "This is not a problem that's going to go away anytime soon."

Public Health Wales has previously noted a "substantial escalation" in use since 2010.

Sands said the blanket ban on legal highs, also known as new psychoactive substances (NPS) proposed by the Westminster government was not going to halt the spread.

Six deaths

Concerns about the substances include people not knowing what they contain, a lack of understanding about their effects and how strong they are.

Thaker Hafid, a father-of-three from Cardiff, died in February after taking a legal high that was five times stronger than heroin.

The project, being launched in Neath, Neath Port Talbot, will offer briefings across Wales with the aim of reaching more than 8,000 people by Christmas.

Public Health Wales has also warned about a potentially dangerous legal high currently in circulation.

A man was taken to hospital in north Wales on 15 June after taking MMB-CHMINACA (MDMD-CHMICA) which has been associated with six deaths across Europe since September 2014.