Psychoactive substances can no longer be bought in Medway’s high street shops, say officials.

Police and council bosses believe there are no shops in the Towns selling the drugs formerly known as legal highs after they were banned three months ago.

More than 300 retailers across the UK have stopped selling the substances, the Home Office has said.

A further 24 shops have been shut down altogether, while police across the country have arrested 186 alleged offenders.

Police in Medway do not have specific arrest figures for the substances due to the way drugs offences are recorded.

The drugs have been linked to 444 deaths since 2010, including that of 20-year-old Jimmy Guichard, who suffered a heart attack within hours of taking synthetic cannabis in October 2013 he was thought to have bought in a Chatham shop.

In 2014 four premises in Medway were found to be selling psychoactive substances. They were searched and officers seized substances using powers under General Product Safety Regulations, and all four stopped selling such products as a result.

This was part of a county-wide operation in partnership with Trading Standards that saw 3,500 individual packets removed from sale across the county.

Immediately prior to the Psychoactive Substances Act coming into force in May, all premises previously visited, including 19 elsewhere in Kent, were contacted and had the law explained to them.

Three months on, police said they were not aware of any premises in Medway or the rest of Kent that now sold psychoactive substances.

Inspector Garry Brimson said: “We are very pleased that the hard work of police and Trading Standards officers, together with the enactment of new legislation, has been successful in reducing the availability of these harmful substances.

“These drugs are not legal, not safe and have been responsible for many deaths across the UK in recent years. We will continue to work with our partners to enforce the law and protect people from these dangerous substances.”

A Medway Council spokesman said: “There is nothing to suggest shops in Medway are selling legal highs that have psychoactive effects.

“However, we will not become complacent and will continue to look out for shops that might be covertly selling psychoactive substances during our routine inspections and we will work with the police to help them investigate.

“We would encourage anyone who may have information about a shop selling psychoactive substances to report it to either Trading Standards or the police.”