Alliance Belfast Councillor Tom Ekin, who chairs the Council’s Licensing Committee and Group Leader Maire Hendron, have welcomed the court ruling which has granted Belfast Council an interim order banning the sale of legal highs from a shop in Belfast. A number of individuals and a limited company will not be able to sell the substances anywhere in Northern Ireland.
Cllr Tom Ekin said: “This is very good news that this court ruling will prevent the sale of legal highs from this business.
“I have been deeply concerned by the availability of legal highs and have worked at the Council to prevent the sale of these dangerous substances. The lives of many people have been wrecked by these legal highs. I hope that this ruling will play an important role in banning their sale across Northern Ireland.
“This is the second legal victory on licensing issues since I became Chair of the Licensing Committee, following a case banning the location of amusement arcades in residential areas.”
Cllr Maire Hendron said: “Legal highs have caused enormous harm to the lives of many people in Belfast and right across Northern Ireland. We are very pleased at the Council’s success and hope that it will have saved lives.
“I believe that this is one of the first rulings of its kind in the UK and hope that it will set an important precedent for Belfast and other Councils and will lead to legal highs being banned from other shops.”
ENDS