The report, by the Centre for Social Justice, says the rise of legal highs was linked to 97 deaths in 2012 and hospital admissions soared by 56% between 2009-12.
It forecasts that on current trends, deaths related to legal highs could be higher than heroin by 2016 – at around 400 deaths per year – but they have a plan to deal with it.
They’ve called for a “treatment tax” to be added to the cost of alcohol in shops to fund a new generation of rehab centres for alcohol and drug addicts to “stem the tide of Britain’s addition problem”.
Under the scheme, the cost of alcohol bought in shops would add 2p to the cost of a can of lager and 9p on a bottle of wine, raising some £1.1 billion over five years.
“Addiction rips into families, makes communities less safe and entrenches poverty,” said Director Christian Guy.
We’re not sure it’s a plan that’ll go down well with drinkers – the cost of a pint has risen nearly 2000 percent in the last four decades.
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