Party Vibe

I’m not surprised; a shit ton of shops all selling the branded blends in an area which isn’t the most affluent or educated bit of England, full of high schools with kids heavily influenced by “London” street culture and that has already had to cope with the fallout from the 1990s rave scene and its drug culture in nearby South / SE London (I was born and grew up in this part of London and Kent was where our family would go on holidays when I was a lad). Essex and Suffolk are similar and their head shops got shaken down years ago; they have by and large stuck to bongs and all the usual hippy tat these places have sold for 30 odd years without too much trouble.

Even the wording Trading Standards use hint that there are some ways of packaging and distributing them that are less risky (provided those involved use some common sense)

Its no different than if these chaps are running a retail shop selling bicycles – those bikes must be safe to start with; have a full list of components and tech sheets and there is an expectation that a “proper” bike shop will provide you with one that has been properly set up for your height and riding style and legal to ride on the countrys roads rather than a flat packed box where you must put the pedals on yourself (there is no prohibition against buying a bike in this manner but safety then becomes your responsibility).

@Tryptameanie 576756 wrote:

Now their has been a ruling like this, they will expand the practice as far as a judge will let them take it.

which would only be as far as the borders of Kent ; the case being actioned by Kent Trading Standards and their Magistrates rather than any higher Courts.

The laws they being used against them are not drugs control laws but product safety laws – there appear to have already been issues with under age sales / usage and bad labelling / not supplying or hiding the ingredient details (or many users would realise they can buy the same stuff far cheaper online with more guaranteed quality); added to emergency hospital admissions and other negative incidents.

The same legislation was used against those selling cathinones in advance of them being controlled; but only after the ACMD and other bodies had clear evidence that excessive usage was harmful.

Kent does (or did) have an unusually large number of “head shops” selling these branded blends compared to counties of similar size and demographics; from my own personal experience many years ago (and knowing a few people who ran head shops) these places are understandably appealing to teenagers (age 16-18) as they are on the boundary between respectability and the “real” drugs/underground counterculture. They always sold various blends but until recently they were just mixtures of caffeine and other minor stimulants (often derived from herbal extracts) rather than the stronger RCs/NPS which mimicked existing controlled substances.

TBH if I had teenage kids I’d prefer them to be making their own bongs and fashion stuff/décor and using properly labelled “scientific” RC’s rather than buying overpriced tat and less truthfully labelled substances 😉