Hull North MP Diana Johnson has responded to the life sentence given today to Lewis Dale, who last year murdered his grandmother after taking the drug M Cat.
The Hull North MP and Labour Shadow Home Office Minister Diana Johnson said: "This tragic case from Hull shows how dangerous these new psychoactive substances can be and how they can destroy lives and families.
"The M-Cat substance taken by Mr Dale was already illegal at the time of the sad events in April 2013, but the Coalition Government has not been keeping pace with the rate at which hundreds of potentially lethal 'legal highs' have been appearing in this country, freely on sale over the internet and in high streets.
"These events also show that we cannot afford the irresponsible mixed messages on legal highs being sent out from the Government. Last week the Lib Dem Drugs Minister suggested that 'legal highs' could be sold in specially licensed shops to over-18s.
"Too many people have wrongly thought that these drugs are safe, simply because they are legal. It doesn't matter if drugs are bought down a back alley or from the internet. The truth is that there is no way of knowing what's in them or what harm they do."