Home Office ministers have had to offer reassurance that the waft of incense in Britain’s cathedrals will not leave church authorities facing criminal charges under the government’s proposed new blanket ban on legal highs.

Leading voices in the Church of England and the Catholic church, including the Association of English Cathedrals (AEC), have raised serious concerns that the use of incense in church services would become an unintended casualty of the psychoactive substances bill now going through parliament.

The bill is being introduced to outlaw the trade in legal highs, especially the new generation of chemical “designer” drugs that are synthesised to mimic the effects of traditional illicit substances including cannabis and ecstasy.

This week, the Home Office minister Mike Penning wrote to Frank Cranmer of the Churches’ Legislation Advisory Service (CLAS) and to the English cathedrals to allay ecclesiastical concerns.

Penning, who is also the minister for policing, said: “We are dealing here with the trade in psychoactive substances ... We do not believe it is right to equate the effects of incense wafting through the air with the direct inhalation of fumes, for example, from a solvent.

“Moreover, the offences only apply where a substance is likely to be consumed for its psychoactive effect. As such, the use of incense in religious services will not be covered by the bill. I hope that this letter has allayed your concerns.”

Cranmer, writing on his blog Law and Religion UK, said he accepted that assurance. The AEC, which includes St Paul’s and Canterbury cathedrals, had earlier expressed its concern to ministers, warning that the term psychoactive substances could be so broadly interpreted that unless given a specific exemption, it risks criminalising the use of incense in places of worship as “an unintended consequence of the bill’s drafting”.

The body said: “Incense is a vital part of multi-sensory worship, Christians are encouraged to worship with their whole bodies: colour and lights in services have visual impact, music uses our sense of hearing, and incense uses our sense of smell.

“Incense is used to enhance the worship experience, and no longer being able to use it would have an adverse impact on the conduct of worship.”

The CLAS has told MPs: “We cannot for one moment believe that it is the intention of the government to make the use of incense in religious worship illegal. We would urge that, for the avoidance of doubt, a specific exemption for the use of incense in places of worship be inserted into the bill.”

The blanket ban on legal highs will make it a criminal offence to sell “any substance intended for human consumption that is capable of producing a psychoactive effect”. The definition is so broad that a list of exemptions is being drawn up by officials to make clear that tea, coffee, alcohol and other everyday substances are not caught by the blanket ban.

During its passage through the House of Lords, the Labour peer Lord Howarth said more thought was needed as to the unintended consequences of the blanket ban.



“We do not want to criminalise priests. The more vigorously the priest swings the censer, the more incense is let loose into the body of the church. We have to be very careful that we do not unintentionally criminalise either priests or florists, because flowers have psychoactive effects.”

The possibility of criminalisation is not as remote as might be assumed. The government’s official advisory committee of drug experts warned in July: “It is impossible to list all the possible desirable exemptions under the bill. As drafted, the bill may now include substances that are benign or even helpful to people, including evidence-based herbal remedies that are not included on the current exemption list.”