The UK government recently enacted the 'Psychoactive Substances Act 2016' which outlaws every substance that might have a psycho-active effect.
The Bill give the Secretary of State for Health the power to define any substance on or off the exempted list. Current exemptions are prescribed medical products and controlled drugs, alcohol, nicotine and tobacco products, caffeine, and certain foodstuffs, This is a particularly draconian structure because it automatically outlaws any and every substance "that might have a psycho-active" and isn't exempt. It has been roundly criticised for taking no account of the relative harms of different substances, for being almost impossible to police effectively, for criminalising people who present no harm to society, and for its potential to act as a profit boosting measure for criminal drug gangs.Section 2: Pychoactive Substances Act 2016 wrote:(1) In this Act “psychoactive substance” means any substance which—
- (a) is capable of producing a psychoactive effect in a person who consumes it, and
(b) is not an exempted substance.