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Shop banned from selling 'legal highs'

A SHOP in Belfast city centre has been temporarily banned from selling 'legal highs' following a decision in the High Court yesterday.

Belfast City Council took legal action against the shop on Gresham Street after it seized legal highs from the premises in November last year.

In February a district judge granted the council an order which allowed it to destroy the products.

Despite the seizure, the council said the shop continued to sell legal highs, with names including 'Magic Dragon' and 'Doob', which were packaged to mimic illegal drugs.

In the High Court yesterday, Mr Justice Donnell Deeny granted an interim order to the council and the attorney general banning the shop from selling 'novel psychoactive substances' or legal highs.

It also banned several people and a limited company from selling the highs anywhere else in the north.

The council said the decision has repercussions for the sale of the drugs in Northern Ireland. A council spokesman said it was "delighted" by the court's decision. "The decision reflects that these substances don't meet the necessary safety requirements," he said. "Just because they are not banned under drug laws does not mean that that these substances are safe; they are a risk to a user's health because their production is not regulated and the consumer can't be certain as to what is in them. "They have potentially harmful effects, ranging from psychosis to death."

The council is also prosecuting people involved in the Gresham Street shop for selling products which did not meet safety standards.