Government renews MDAI ban

A form of synthetic Ecstasy has been banned by the government - despite it falling out of the Island's drugs classification system.

MDAI will stop being a Class C drug on New Year's Day but will still fall under new laws banning legal highs.

It was outlawed by Tynwald six years ago after the death of Ramsey teenager Tanya Hughes.

The Island was the first place in the British Isles to ban the substance after Coroner of Inquests John Needham called for it to be controlled.

The Isle of Man Advisory Council for the Misuse of Drugs said the drug should be outlawed in 2011 after the former Ramsey Grammar School pupil's death, but then recommended a temporary ban be lifted.

However, the Department of Health and Social Security, headed by then-minister Eddie Teare, kept its ban in place.

MDAI will remain banned but will now fall under the UK's Psychoactive Substances Act, which was extended to the Island by Tynwald earlier this year.

The new laws imposed a blanket-ban on so called 'legal highs'.