Liston Pacitti, 28, was also sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison in April for supplying psychoactive substances to legal shops he operated in Montrose and Arbroath. “However, it can be obtained illegally online, so we try to both work preventively and educate substance users by making them aware of the dangers of these products. Behind the company was an award-winning website marketing guru. “I don`t want to hurt anyone or sell an illegal product,” the man behind Wicked told The West Australian. “Some users illegally post such drug-related advertisements (which are not allowed), and we are still looking to remove them from our site,” a Locarto spokeswoman said. One of the most popular legal highs was the substance known as spice. This synthetic drug is a cannabinoid, which means it produces the same effects as cannabis, but the spice is capable of producing effects that can be up to 100 times stronger. Spices have been linked to a variety of health problems, including kidney failure, seizures, heart failure, and psychosis, and are thought to be a causative factor in some deaths. It took a phone call to shut down a website promising to provide “Australia`s strongest legal high” to its customers via a white powder that looks a lot like cocaine. It was different with Wicked-high.com. Under a pseudonym, The West Australian ordered 50g of Wicked White Powder online for $399.

On the checkout page, another company`s name and bank details in Queensland were displayed. He said he knew what was in Wicked powder and that there was nothing to fear from the product, although the site promised “very strong things that would destroy any legal high on the market.” The Locarto team said users must comply with the site`s terms of service, but that hasn`t stopped dozens of ads containing illegal drugs from being posted. There is no shortage of websites that promote concoctions that merchants say make customers legally elevated. But most operate outside Australia and it`s almost impossible to find those hiding behind the plethora of powders, pills and herbs sent to the country. He said: “In my opinion, the closure of these legal stores has reduced the impact of people using Spice locally, particularly over the last 18 months. Police Secretary Michelle Roberts called the trend of selling illicit substances online “stupid” and fired a warning shot at sellers and buyers. “While illicit drug users need to be very careful, the particular risk of sourcing substances online is that you have no idea what they are or where they come from, so one hit can be completely different from the next.” So-called research chemicals — and other synthetic drugs, or legal highs — have been responsible for the deaths of users around the world, including Perth Preston Bridge teenager, who died in 2013 during a psychotic reaction to a synthetic version of the hallucinogenic drug LSD. “People who choose to order illegal drugs through these online forums should know that there is a high probability that you will be caught,” she said. Another store that sold Legal Highs, Bong on Atholl Street, Perth, ceased operations at the end of 2015. In May, a new law went into effect banning the manufacture, sale and distribution of new hazardous psychoactive substances (NPS), also known as legal highs.

Synthetic drugs are designed to mimic the effects of other drugs such as cocaine and cannabis. Frightened by a message to call a reporter, the cap was removed when the white powder was advertised as a “research chemical that can cause intense highs.” Perth`s anti-drug campaigners have claimed that the recently imposed blanket ban on legal highs has led to the transformation of their city. Katie Della Bennett, one of Perth`s anti-drug activists and a driving force behind the legal protests targeting some companies selling the drug, believes the new law has changed the lives of users in the city. She said: “The legislation has made a big difference in Perth. If you walk around Perth now, you can only see the difference it has made. It`s so beautiful to see. I have contacts at Murray Royal Hospital and they have said that over the past month they have seen a sharp drop in the number of people brought in by the police. Eight customers of Brocklehurst and Pacitti had to be treated in hospital after taking medication sold in legal stores. These included a 13-year-old boy who was buying substances at the Perth store. Perth`s police chief said cases of people using the controversial Spice drug have declined since the city`s legal shops closed.