A court ordered the destruction of nearly 500 packs of legal highs today.

Kent County Council argued for the disposal of the goods at Maidstone Magistrates’ Court after they were seized by Trading Standards in a series of county wide raids in July.

The items come from three shops in Maidstone and one in Sheerness.

So far this year 2,000 packs of legal highs, worth £36,000, have been seized

"They have all been nicknamed legal highs and quite clearly the result today is that these products are not legal, they are not safe and we need people to understand that" - Mark Rolfe

Speaking after the order Mark Rolfe, area manager for Kent Trading Standards, said: “It’s an excellent result, it’s exactly what we were looking to do.

“We’ve had the courts confirm for us that these products are not legal.

“They have all been nicknamed legal highs and quite clearly the result today is that these products are not legal, they are not safe and we need people to understand that.

“We don’t want these items for sale on our street. They are causing harm to people and they are causing death to people.

“We will do anything that we can do to prevent that harm to communities in Kent.”

The items were seized from shops in a series of raids on Monday, July 7.

They were taken because the packaging did not provide a full list of ingredients or say how the item should be used or consumed.

The 420 Headshop, in Union Street, Maidstone, had 244 items taken from its premises.
This consisted of 43 different products, including Disco Biscuit and Paradox.

A further 22 items were removed from Beverages, in Maidstone High Street. These included Herbal Haze and Duchy.

A further 148 were taken from Rugs 4 Riches, in Week Street, Maidstone.
A search at Cash Consoles in Sheerness High Street on Tuesday, July 29 saw a further 58 removed.

None of the defendants were in court for the hearing.

A further three cases against shops in the UK Skunkworks chain have been adjourned until Monday, January 5.

They will be heard in Dartford Magistrates’ Court at 2pm.

Trading Standards and Kent Police have targeted 22 properties this year.

Sgt Garry Brimson from Kent Police was also present in court.

He said: “Kent Police are very happy with the result today. This is the second court that has agreed that these products are unsafe and dangerous.

“The guise that they are safe for consumption has been shut down.”