London - Britain has announced proposals to ban a whole swathe of new designer drugs, allowing courts to impose heavy penalties for manufacture, dealing and possession.
The Home Office said the 36 substances which it planned to bring under the control of the Misuse of Drugs legislation were, like the widely used synthetic drug ecstasy, derived from phenethylamine.
It said all but one of the 36 drugs would be labelled Class A - the toughest classification for illegal substances which includes heroin and cocaine.