A protest group have stepped up their campaign targeting stores selling so-called legal highs in order to prevent Perth becoming a “zombie town”.
Perth Against Legal Highs staged another picket of This N That on the city’s County Place on Saturday in their attempts to get the store closed down for good.
The group have upped their campaign after the store was highlighted in a BBC documentary selling a variety of “legal highs”.
Perth Against Legal Highs group leader Katie Della Bennett said: “This is our fourth campaign and we are doing it because we are fed up of Perth turning into a zombie town.
“We are fed up of hearing about the amount of fatalities and the number of children, teenagers and vulnerable adults that have been affected.
“We decided to step it up a notch after the BBC documentary. It was very harrowing, but it was honest and a true reflection about what’s happening. It really brought everything home.
“We have since had an awesome response from people who have come forward to say how they’ve been affected by the dangers of ‘legal highs’.”
Among the “legal highs” This N That is said to offer includes the controversial brand Spice. It is a synthetic cannabinoid and can be up to 100 times as potent as cannabis, the drug it mimics.
The brand is known to have caused seizures, psychosis, kidney failure and strokes and has been linked to numerous deaths around the world.
Perth Against Legal Highs has amassed more than 300 names on a petition calling for the closure of the two “legal high” stores in Perth, which will eventually be handed to Perth and Kinross Council.
Katie added: “We don’t harass anybody or cause a riot. This is a peaceful protest. We speak to people as they go by and people come up to us and ask for information.
“We will be here again a fortnight from today. If people are affected they must seek help. The ingredients are changing all the time.
“The people who are on these products and buying them, they’re the victims.”