Britain is the online capital of Europe for potent synthetic drugs which mimic the effects of illegal substances, according to a report published today by the European Union’s drug agency.

Officials at the agency are alarmed by the speed with which online retailers produce alternatives when countries ban “legal highs” such as Spice.

The UK is about to ban Spice, a cannabis substitute sold as a a herbal smoking mixture but already online retailers are selling 27 alternatives.

Wolfgang Gotz, the director of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, said the use of the legal highs market to get around controls on illegal drugs was the most challenging development over the last twelve months.

“While this practice itself is not new, what is new is the wide range of substances now on offer, the growing use of the internet, the aggressive and sophisticated marketing of products and the very speed with which the market reacts to controls”, he said.

The centre’s annual report said that since the synthetic stimulant Benzylpiperazine or BZP was banned in Europe earlier this year, a new UK based market had emerged in alternatives.

Among the stimulants, marketed as BZP free, are a range of energy party pills promising to keep people alert and lively for up to six hours.

Snuff products and herbal powders, claiming to contain caffeine and other plant based ingredients, are also being sold online as legal alternatives to cocaine and amphetamines.

A survey of online shops selling these “psychoactive” drugs earlier this year found 115 retailers operating from 17 European countries.

The majority, thirty seven per cent, were based in the UK, 15 per cent in Germany, and 14 per cent in The Netherlands.

Almost half the sites selling Spice were in Britain. Germany, France, and Austria made Spice illegal in March and the UK is about to do the same once the measure is approved by MPs.

The annual report said little impact has been made in the last year in European efforts to curb cocaine and heroin use.

“Cocaine and heroin are maintaining a firm hold on Europe’s drugs scene and there is little to suggest any improvement regarding their use,” the report said.

It confirmed that Britain and Spain are still at the top of the European league table for consumption of cocaine. But is shows a continuing fall in cannabis consumption among British schoolchildren.

In the mid-1990s, 42% of British teenagers aged 15-16 reported to have used cannabis but this has now fallen to 29% of the age group.

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