Headshop drug treatments fell 50% after ban in 2010

The number of people treated for abusing former headshop drugs dropped dramatically following the introduction of laws effectively banning the trade, research indicates.

The research, the first national study on the impact of the laws, found average treatment rates for new psychoactive substances (NPS) fell by almost 50% in the two years after laws were introduced in 2010.

“Over the two years after the enactment of prohibition-styled legislation targeting NPS and headshops, the rate of NPS related addiction treatment episodes among young adults declined progressively and substantially,” concluded researchers.