Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner Tony Hogg has welcomed a Government review of so-called "legal highs" labelling them a "serious threat to our communities".
Ministers this week moved to clamp down on the trade in potentially fatal drugs. The review will look at how the UK's laws and enforcement against new psychoactive substances, also known as legal highs, can be improved.
Options to be considered will include widening legislation to ensure police and law enforcement agencies have better-tailored powers.
Serious concerns were raised in Devon and Cornwall in the summer when four people were hospitalised in the space of 48 hours after taking "legal highs".
A 15-year-old boy from Torbay suffered a stroke after smoking a mixture of chemicals and tobacco called "Bubble Bud".
Another young person from the area also had to be treated in hospital along with two in Exeter who had taken another legal high called "El Blanco".
Mr Hogg said: "Legal highs are a serious threat to our communities and I reiterate my call for all partner organisations to give the public a lead in stamping them out. This lead needs to come from the highest level.
"Locally I know Devon and Cornwall police is taking very seriously the supply of these noxious substances to our young people and is breaking ground in both closing down shops that sell them and bringing the purveyors before the courts."
The review was announced as the Government said that two new groups of psychoactive substances – NBOMe and Benzofury – will become classified as Class A and B drugs respectively.
Crime prevention minister Norman Baker said: "The coalition Government is determined to clamp down on the reckless trade in so-called legal highs, which has tragically already claimed the lives of far too many young people in our country.
"Despite being marketed as legal alternatives to banned drugs, users cannot be sure of what they contain and the impact they will have on their health. Nor can they even be sure that they are legal.
"Our review will consider how current legislation can be better tailored to enable the police and law enforcement officers to combat this dangerous trade and ensure those involved in breaking the law are brought to justice.
"NBOMe and Benzofury are drugs which have caused serious harm and in some cases death to those who have taken them. Outlawing them is crucial in the battle to restrict their supply and use."
NBOMe and benzofuran compounds are currently under a temporary banning order, which will become permanent when legislation is passed next year.
The review will be led by the Home Office, with input from experts in law enforcement, science, health and academia and will present its findings in spring 2014.
The Home Office has also published updated guidance for local government on the different action trading standards can take against shops selling new psychoactive substances.
Ten "legal highs" were identified last year for the first time in the UK by a specialist Government system that targets music festivals and tobacco shops.
A total of 27 new psychoactive substances, also known as legal highs, have now been detected by the Home Office's Forensic Early Warning System since it was set up in January 2011.
