The authorities are to clamp down on so-called 'party drugs', giving them an illegal substance classification.

The Home Office is set to legislate against the use of BZP and GBL, which are touted to give users "legal highs", amid fears of an "emerging threat".

BZP and GBL would carry a prison term of up to two years for possession and 14 years for dealing.

SDLP South Belfast MP Alasdair McDonnell has welcomed the impending reclassification and said young people are putting themselves at risk by easily obtaining the drugs.

Dr McDonnell - who is a family GP - was responding to the reclassification of Gamma-Butyrolactone (GBL) which converts in the stomach to gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB), synthetic cannabinoids and benzylpiperazine (BZP) all of which will be re-categorised to either Class-B or Class-C drugs.

Dr McDonnell said: "These drugs are lethal time-bombs and it is only a matter of time before we have another young death through the mixing of these with dangerous amounts of alcohol.

"We must send the message out to people who think they are not doing any harm by experimenting in herbal drugs," he continued.

"They are putting themselves at risk of serious injury and death and putting their family at huge risk of trauma and heartache.

"These drugs, so easily available on the Internet and in certain health shops and stalls, are encouraging our young people to experiment with harmful substances.

"They are being sold for an extremely cheap price and giving young people the ability to buy larger quantities," he said, noting that, as a family doctor, he has witnessed first-hand the destruction so-called recreational drugs can have on young people and entire families.

"I welcome this reclassification and hope it makes an immediate impact on the sale and misuse of potential lethal chemicals."

Both drugs have been linked to deaths, most recently to that of 21-year-old medical student Hester Stewart, who had taken GBL.

BZP, also known as herbal ecstasy, and GBL will be certified as Class C drugs.

The UK Home Secretary, Alan Johnson also intends to introduce a ban on man-made cannabis substitute, known as cannabinoids, and sometimes referred to as Spice.

Cannabinoids, like BZP and GBL, can at the moment be bought legally over the internet.

However, the Government's drugs reform will see 'Spice' controlled as a Class B drug, alongside cannabis.

Mr Johnson said yesterday: "There is a perception that many of the so-called legal highs are harmless, however in some cases people can be ingesting dangerous industrial fluids or smoking chemicals that can be even more harmful than cannabis."

(PR/BMcC/GK)