Abstract
This narrative review describes the background to the introduction of the UK Psychoactive Substances Act 2016, and developments since the Home Office review of the Act in 2018. It discusses the challenges when measuring illicit drug proliferation, and triangulates the impact of the Act by using data from multiple public sources. It looks at both the direct impacts of the Act, and indirect impacts on other forms of drug use, and identifies the discrepancy between politically expedient legislation and real-world harm reduction.
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