Lethal legal highs are the drugs of choice for a growing number of people in Glasgow.

The Evening Times revealed last week that these New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) can be bought over the counter in many city centre shops for pocket money prices.

Experts in addiction have reported a shift in drug use towards legal highs and demanded action by authorities.

The drugs have been linked with a rising number of deaths and police have been forced to sit up and take notice.

Until now, officers have had their hands tied because the substances are not covered by the Misuse of Drugs Act.

This means that suppliers can make massive profit without fear of prosecution by authorities.

But Police Scotland has come up with what could be part of the solution to the problem of retailers selling legal highs.

They are dusting off 1980s case law that applied to suppliers of glue-sniffing kits to crack down on shops.

Police are to be commended for reative thinking as they attempt to deal with the new scourge of legal highs. We can only hope that recent activity is part of a concerted effort to eradicate the problem once and for all.