Legally High: how drug makers have slipped the net Known to Government, police and health professionals as New Psychoactive Substances (NPS), some legal highs acquire names such as blurberries, pink panthers and hex-static. But the drug industry's wordsmiths can't keep up and many new products are known by acronyms. "About one a week are coming to our attention," explains John Ramsey, a toxicologist at St George's Hospital in London, who is part of a team that constantly updates a commercial database of new NPSs. The European drug monitoring centre in Lisbon recorded 73 new compounds in 2012. We are on schedule to get about that number this year. The source of many of the legal highs which have flooded the market in recent years is a chirpy, moon-faced Israeli with big specs who goes by the working name of Doctor Zee. He is the "godfather" of meow meow, the man who recognised the recreational potential of mephedrone, which had been synthesised decades earlier. Meow meow was rapidly pirated by the Chinese and became a billion-dollar industry. Zee continues to sell his own legal compounds through a legitimate business in Holland, but not before trying them himself. "I don't want anyone else to be my guinea pig," he tells Reed as he pops a pill of his own making, although to be on the safe side everything is first tested on rats, dogs and pigs. Persuading Doctor Zee to take part was "a long process," says Reed. It took a while after we met to realise how critical he was in scaling up the manufacture of various legal highs. He sees himself as a pioneer on a greater mission to usher in a new age when drugs are safe and tested. If you're realistic about the situation, it may be that he is the least worst option we have. This film should become integral to the debate as it unfolds. Should the Government be banning each new drug? John Ramsey isn't convinced. They are always going to be one step ahead. All banning one drug does is spawn a new one. We just don't have the resources to risk-assess these compounds. It would take a heart of stone to be unmoved by the sight of Baxter and a younger acolyte called Rylan injecting themselves with 2EO Ketamine (a since-banned variant of the horse tranquiliser ketamine - a class C drug since 2006). "I still find it quite hard to watch these scenes," says Reed. Part of its fascination was watching something very closely that I hadn't witnessed before. Part was concern that these lads were pumping something into their veins that they really didn't know much about. He hopes the film will help people "realise we live in a new world of drug taking and we need to completely rethink how culturally and legislatively we deal with that. Unfortunately millions of people take drugs in the UK and we need to take a long cold look at how we can make that situation less harmful for them. There is something to be said for keeping consumption more in the open. Ignorance kills a lot of people. Legally High is on Channel 4 on Thursday 8 August at 10.00pm