Mr. Tim Murphy:

I would mention the issue of the legislation.

I understand that even perfect legislation will not necessarily solve the drug issue. As was pointed out, investment in treatment services is what will produce change.

As far as I understand, the difficulty with the legislation and the reason it does not appear to be working is because the laboratories are having difficulty demonstrating that these substances are psychoactive. My perception is that they are only able to compare new psychoactive substances against lists of controlled drugs. It is difficult for a laboratory to say with any degree of confidence whether a new substance is psychoactive in effect. The only way we can determine if something is psychoactive is through observable effects. A key recommendation I would make today would be for other evidence to be taken into account when classifying and cataloguing new psychoactive substances, for example, evidence from accident and emergency admissions, psychiatrist and pharmacologists.