AN INDUSTRIAL unit was being used to make potentially deadly psychoactive drugs to feed an international trade, Trading Standards officers said.

Officers seized £45,000 worth of suspected chemicals from the site in Southwick after police stumbled across them.

West Sussex County Council officers believe the five kilograms of chemicals were pyschoactive drugs often known as ‘legal highs’.

The drugs are considered highly dangerous but have proved difficult to legislate against because of the relentless pace at which different types are produced.

Authorities are trying to tackle the trade using consumer protection legislation, however, a bill is making its way through parliament to ban any pyschoactive drugs.

West Sussex Trading Standards Manager Peter Aston said they have been investigating after police found the drugs on Tuesday.

He said: “Sussex Police were at the unit for another reason and called us when they found out what was being made there.

"Investigations are at an early stage but it’s clear this was a major operation supplying shops and users around the UK and abroad.”

A stash of invoices and £3,500 in cash was also seized from the site, which authorities are not yet identifying.

The drugs, such as the 'Insane Joker', produce effects similar to ecstasy and cocaine.

They are often marketed as air fresheners to get around laws, but have been linked to anti-social behaviour, poisoning, emergency hospital admissions and deaths.

University of Sussex student Hester Stewart, 21, died after taking GBL in 2009, a liquid high since listed as a class C drug.

Councillor David Barling, cabinet member for public protection, said: “We have already worked with a number of shop retailers who have voluntarily stopped selling these unsafe products, but this work shows we are prepared to tackle the production of new psychoactive substances as well."

He added: “The name ‘legal high’ doesn’t mean that it’s safe or legal, and no one can be sure what effect a ‘legal high’ could have on anyone who takes them.”

Police were unable to confirm as The Argus went to press whether anyone had been arrested.

It is believed the drugs were being mixed on site.