The government has moved to close more legal loopholes with regard to synthetic drugs this week.

Through two legal notices published on Friday, the government has outlawed no less than 10 synthetic cannabinoids.

Last September, the Home Affairs and Health Ministries told this newspaper they were discussing introducing the concept of making whole classes of compounds illegal unless specific products are deemed legal.

This will allow the authorities to clamp down on new, dangerous synthetic drugs as soon as they appear on the local market.

As matters stood before Friday, and where they may still stand with respect to other chemical compounds, Malta’s law enforcement authorities are often hampered when it comes to dealing with the blight of synthetic drugs because as soon as a particular drug is legislated against, a new, slightly modified, version appears which, technically, is not illegal.

This problem could be resolved, according to the Health Ministry, by making whole classes of compounds illegal. The prevalence of illegally manufactured and illegally imported synthetic drugs has been noted in Malta, and it stresses that the use of such drugs can result in serious health problems.

Kidney failure, cardiac problems and hallucinations are some of the effects experienced by the users of so-called ‘legal highs’ in Malta.

These legal highs have caused a shift in Europe’s drug market, with hundreds of new versions being discovered every year. Because of the way in which the drugs are promoted, young people and adults alike are probably unaware of how extensive the effects on the body can be.

Containing chemical substances that produce similar effects to illegal drugs such as cocaine, cannabis or ecstasy, legal highs can be separated into two main groups: synthetic cannabis and bath salts. The former is designed to act in the same way as cannabis, going through the same parts of the brain that would be affected by cannabis smoking. The latter are stimulants which mimic drugs such as cocaine.

The major effects of legal highs can be listed into three categories – stimulants, sedatives and psychedelics. Stimulants act like speed, cocaine or ecstasy, making one feel energised and euphoric, while increasing the risk of paranoia, anxiety and panic.