THE father of a Parks man who died in 2013 after taking a legal high has welcomed calls from councils asking the Government to ban the substances entirely.

Father-of-three Chris Scott was 23 when he took the chemical alpha-methyltriptamine, known as AMT, and died at the Great Western Hospital a short time later.

During the weekend, the Local Government Association (LGA) wrote a letter calling for legal highs to be made illegal in next month’s Queen’s speech.

Mike Scott has said while he backs the latest call, he feels as though something should have been done sooner.

The 49-year-old said: "To be honest, I can’t understand why something hasn’t been done sooner. It seems common sense to me. I definitely back what they are saying and my view hasn’t changed.

“Whenever you put any other drug onto the shelves it is properly tested to make sure it is safe. With legal highs it is the other way around.

“They become available and it is only when the consequences are fully known that anyone decides to take any action.”

Some councils have already taken action to reduce the number of people using legal highs such as in Lincoln, where people are now banned from taking them in public. Meanwhile Blackpool Council have issued community protection orders banning them from selling psychoactive substances.

Mike said: “I support councils taking action but some of these are quite hard to enforce. There is a lot of focus on the legal highs you smoke which is obviously quite easy to spot in public.

“My son took a pill which is obviously much harder to spot when taken in public. It is good councils are taking action off their own backs but a full ban would be better.”

Swindon Borough Council deputy leader Brian Mattock (Con, Old Town), said so far there had been no moves to ban legal highs in the town.

He said: “We are aware of the move by a small number of councils in the country to urge for a ban on legal highs and we’ll keep a close eye on this position. However, there is no evidence at this stage to suggest a particular problem or increased usage in Swindon. Working in partnership with the police, pubs and licensed premises, and drug and alcohol treatment providers, we continue to closely monitor the situation, along with sellers of these substances, and consider various possible actions if appropriate.”

The LGA are pushing for action to be taken not only because of the social costs but also the financial costs, with local authorities spending £830 million tackling drug and alcohol misuse.

Ann Lucas, chairwoman of the LGA’s Safer and Stronger Communities Board, said: “Council trading standards teams have performed an excellent job of tackling the issue but the current legislation is not fit for purpose. We need an outright ban on legal highs that will enable the closure of head shops and protect the public from devastating consequences.

“Legal highs are untested, unpredictable and a potential death sentence. Nobody can be sure of their contents or the effects that they could have. At the moment, as soon as one is outlawed, another one with a slightly different chemical composition appears. We can’t allow this to continue.”