Leam shop sells deadly legal highs

UPDATE (26/04/2017): The law was changed on the 26th of May 2016, banning legal highs all across the UK. The establishment in question, Planet Bong, no longer sells the products mentioned in the article.

Planet Bong, a vintage store in Leamington Spa, has continued to sell legal highs after national news of a near-fatal incident in Canterbury, Kent.

Matt Ford, a 17-year-old from Kent consumed a ‘legal high’, Exodus Damnation, which was brought at a UK Skunkworks store in Canterbury.

The 17-year-old collapsed and suffered a heart attack after consuming the product on Monday, October 17.

The Leamington store, Planet Bong, sells a similar range of cannabis substitutes including Mind Melt, Pandoras Box, Clock Orange, Poke and Oblivion.

There are also a range of pills that claim to simulate the effects of ecstasy and cocaine.

It is legal for Planet Bong to sell the ‘highs’ as they feature the clause – “not for human use” – since the products are not tested for human consumption.

Instead, they are sold for relaxation by burning the herbs in the home.

Canterbury and Whitstable MP, Julian Brazier, commented on this loophole in a letter to Theresa May, home secretary, after the incident involving Mr Ford in his constituency.

“I find these twisted semantics as repugnant as I am sure you do.

“The fact remains that the shop [UK Skunkworks] knowingly sells intoxicants and highs, with the apparent blessing of the law.”

Planet Bong did not wish to comment on its continued sale of legal highs.

Businesses within close proximity to Planet Bong had mixed attitudes to the store selling such products.

One business owner who wished to remain anonymous told the Boar that while it was “not a fantastic idea and there are better things to be selling”, they respected Planet Bong’s decision to sell legal highs: “Each to their own.”

Another business owner who also wished to remain anonymous said that Planet Bong was a “really well respected retailer among others” and that all operations are “fully abiding of the law”.

Both businesses commented that Planet Bong’s sale of legal highs had no effect on their businesses, with one stating: “Alcohol affects us more, that’s from the Benjamin Satchwell.”

Aakanksha Jaiswal, first-year Economics and Industrial Organisation student who lives in campus accommodation, said: “I haven’t heard of anyone using legal highs in halls, but I understand how overuse could have potentially dangerous consequences.

“I just think you need to know your limit.”

Spencer Mintram, fourth-year Automotive Engineering student, commented: “If legal highs are killing or seriously harming people, then they need to be made illegal.”

Andy King, second-year Philosophy student, suggested that legal highs were not an issue with students.

“The only people I’ve heard about getting high definitely aren’t doing it with anything from Planet Bong, if you get what I mean.”

A fourth-year student who wished to remain anonymous added: “I don’t see the fuss about legal highs, I’m not bothered about taking them myself.

“It makes more sense to legalise other [currently illegal] drugs because that way you can police what’s in them and have control over [its] safety and purity.”

According to figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), legal highs killed 52 people in 2012.

Planet Bong previously sparked controversy in 2004 when it sold cannabis seeds that could be germinated to grow the Class C drug.

The store stated that the seeds were sold for “novelty value” only. It also sold magic mushrooms, which were legal to sell in fresh state, though they could then be processed by the customer to be used as the hallucinogenic Class A drug.