The ban in Ireland banned all psychoactive substances. At the time the politicians didn't even realise that caffeine/petrol/paint/nicotine/alcohol/foods/medicines were psychoactive. Yep, really.
So then they discussed making a list of psychoactive products which were allowed but I have never seen this list. They probably gave up after realising that the law was not watertight and that so many products that they use every day were psychoactive. So now the law says that a substance which is substantially psychoactive and mimics the effects of an illicit drug will be considered illegal. Kavas psychoactive effects are not 'significant' in comparison the substances targetted, Kava does not mimic a controlled substance and does not induce hallucinations or create dependency.
Check from page 33 downwards
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploa...ta/file/368583/NPSexpertReviewPanelReport.pdf
So this means that the police and judges can decide on a substance on a case by case basis but Kava should not be in danger as it is not imitating an illegal drug and it is debatable what 'substantially psychoactive' actually means. It also does not create dependence or induce hallucinations.
In the UK, we became worried that the law in England would change and so we closed our office there so that Kava would not get thrown in with all the other harmful substances which were in line to be banned but the law there we now see is very much focused on synthetics. They have starting using the term 'New Psychoactive Substances' to describe what the media and even the police call 'legal Highs'. Actually calling them legal highs is incorrect though, as to sell something for the purpose of getting high makes the substance illegal ... this goes back to the 1971 drugs act amendment when selling glue and paint where there was a suspicion that they were being used for intoxication:
'In England and Wales it is an offence for a shopkeeper to sell them to an under 18 year old if they know they are to be used for intoxicating purposes. The Government has extended this legislation to make it illegal for shopkeepers to sell lighter fuel (butane) to under 18s whether or not they know it will be used for intoxicating purposes. This law came into force on 1st Oct 1999, although it was not an ‘extension’ to the Intoxicating Substances Supply Act, but an amendment to the Consumer Protection Act'
http://www.drugscope.org.uk/resources/drugsearch/drugsearchpages/laws
So, NPS blanket ban means that New or Novel Psychoactive Substances are the target of this new bill. Kava is not new but I'm not sure that excludes it but the law in the UK is most definitely targeting synthetics and Head Shop products, GKE has never supplied any head shops in the UK with Kava and we know of only one shop who were recently selling it. We were in contact with this shop in the past and are glad to see they have discontinued sales of Kava
http://www.drift-headshop.com/kava_powder.html
If the UK follows the Irish ban then it won't be too bad as they are enforcing the law with regards harmful substances. If they follow the Romanian ban there will be a problem as the authorities don't need to prove anything to ban something. The Polish ban led to the substances and shops being monitored and restricted by Trading Standards so that isn't too bad either but all in all we will just have to see. This bill will have to pass the House of Lords, House of Commons and so on. There will be amendments to be made also or perhaps even objections by the likes of Monster and Relentless energy drinks companies who don't want to see a market of 60 million people lost to new products in the future, if these guys want to put a new stimulant in their drinks down the road they will be making sure this new bill makes allowances for them etc So this is not a clear cut bill yet, plenty of manouvering still to be done and it will take weeks and possibly months. They may use temporary banning orders in the meantime to get certain products of the streets, CNS stimulant products first probably like Methiopropamine (they banned Ethylphenidate temporarily a few weeks ago), or this could have been a move to simply remove Ethylphenidate and leave the Methiopropamine, which is commonly viewed as a less harmful CNS stimulant, on the ,market so that no one would bother with replacement and would make do with the single chemical. The market for stimulants consists mainly of EP and MPA with 2-iai being seen as a poor product . They will probably not ban the Cannabinoids as they have admitted themselves that every time they ban a Cannabinoid the replacement Cannabinoid is always more damaging than the last. They will probably leave what is on the market there for now.
So we can expect a ban on certain substances soon but we believe Kava will be safe.
That is the only reason that I hope there is a hell and a heaven. When you mention nicotine, cigarettes and alcohol, I also see huge corporate conglomerates that pull the strings on politicians like puppets. Also the social unrest associated with banning those substances could easily destabilize any country. I will get off my pedestal now but I'm really sick and tired of Ill Informed Career Politicians making these kinds of decisions.
