Brussels, Nov. 6 (ANI): Britain has emerged as the European capital for online synthetic drug trading, the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) has warned.

Britain-based websites account for 42 percent trade of “legal highs” or “synthetic cannabinoid’s” in Europe, providing safe havens to the suppliers of “Spice”, “Smoke” or “Sense” and other controversial products.

The dangers of legal highs were highlighted following the death of Hester Stewart, 21, after taking the legal party drug GBL.

Following that, the British Home Office announced plans to criminalize people taking both GBL and Spice.

“Attempts to circumvent drug controls by marketing unregulated substances are not new,” The Telegraph quoted Wolfgang Goetz, the director of the EU drugs agency, as saying.

“If Spice is a taste of things to come, Europe will need to ensure that its responses are adequate to tackle this growing challenge,” he added. (ANI)