THE head of a school at the centre of a drugs scare has given his backing to The Press’s campaign to ban the legal drug mephedrone.

As The Press exclusively revealed last week, Jeff Bower, head of Woldgate College, in Pocklington, said the mephedrone-induced collapse which saw a 17-year-old sixth-former rushed to York Hospital, was a scare that should not be repeated.

He said he was “100 per cent” behind our campaign to close the loophole allowing the sale of the drug. He said: “It is clear that legal highs are becoming increasingly popular with young people all over the country.

“They are new and have the appeal of being cheap and easily available,” he said.

“It is painfully clear that many young people do not yet know enough about them to make an informed decision about them. I have seen at first hand how ill someone can be who reacts badly to mephedrone. There has already been one death – Gabrielle Price from Brighton – attributed to mephedrone and it seems to me inevitable that there will be more unless we can raise awareness quickly and effectively. ”

Young people tend to assume that because legal highs are ‘legal’ they are also safe and we must attack that assumption. They are an accident waiting to happen.”

The Press campaign has also been backed by York MP Hugh Bayley. “The Medicines Act already prohibits its sale for human consumption, but I will write to the Government’s Advisory Committee on the Misuse of Drugs asking them to consider banning it completely.”

• Are you worried about the increasing availability of “legal highs” such as mephedrone? Have you or your family been affected? Phone Jennifer Bell at The Press on 01904 653051 ext 315 or email jennifer.bell@thepress.co.uk or have your say at thepress.co.uk