HAMPSHIRE’S police commissioner has praised the Government for imposing a ban on five ‘legal highs’.

Simon Hayes, the county’s police and crime commissioner, threw his support behind the move which will see the dangerous drugs become illegal while tests are carried out over the next 12 months.

But Mr Hayes warned that the measures must go further and said he would like the drugs banned for good.

The ban on five drugs came into force this week and will last for up to 12 months, to allow the independent Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) to decide whether they should be permanently controlled.

Three people in Hampshie have died after taking alpha methyltrptamine (AMT).

Schoolboy Adam Hunt, from Millbrook in Southampton, died in hospital in August, 2013 – five days after falling seriously ill after taking AMT and etizolam.

Trainee doctor Doug Ferguson, 19, from Chandler’s Ford, died after taking AMT in June 2012, while married father William Nutter, 32, from Andover, died after consuming AMT the following month.

The Say No to Legal Highs campaign has been calling for tougher laws, for vendors and sellers to be held to account, and tighter controls to stop vulnerable youngsters from being able to buy the products over the counter.

The new ban covers five compounds related to methylphenidate, a Class B drug, due to concerns about their misuse as new psychoactive substances (NPS).

Ethylphenidate, one of the drugs being banned, has emerged as an alternative to cocaine and is currently being sold using the street names ‘Gogaine’ and ‘Burst’.

To prevent users from switching to related drugs with similar harms, the ACMD has also recommended that the following four drugs are banned:

 - 3,4-Dichloromethylphenidate (‘3,4-DCMP’)

- Methylnaphthidate

-Isopropylphenidate 

- Propylphenidate

Mr Hayes said: “I support the Government in imposing this ban. I hope however they will go further and pledge either a total ban or legislation governing their sale of these dangerous and life threatening poisons.”