Parkinson’s UK refute claims that banning legal highs will ‘end brain research’

One of the biggest Parkinson’s charities in the UK has denied an expert’s claims that the government’s bill to ban all psychoactive substances will damage brain research in Britain.

Professor David Nutt, who was sacked as government chief drugs adviser in 2009, spoke out against the plans to ban new ‘legal highs’, arguing that they could potentially ban a number of possibly useful new substances.

Nutt told the Guardian: “It’s going to end brain research in this country. The ban on legal highs has been very destructive to research into Parkinson’s. The only drug for Parkinson’s is a cathinone – a class of drugs banned in 2010. We’ve already seen massive impediment to research by current law.”

But Parkinson’s UK denied Nutt’s claim, according to the report: “There are a number of Parkinson’s drugs of different classes. We’ve never heard of Parkinson’s drugs from the cathinone class,” a spokesman said.