GOVERNMENT ministers are expected to today unveil proposals for a blanket ban on all brain-altering drugs in a bid to tackle an epidemic of so-called legal highs.

The Government is to look at legislation introduced in Ireland four years ago that bans the sale of all ''psychoactive'' substances and then exempts some, such as alcohol and tobacco.

Currently, when a legal high is outlawed, illegal-drug chemists are getting around the law by tweaking the chemical compound and creating a new substance.

Home Office officials are to launch a feasibility study looking at the Irish model, which has effectively eliminated all so-called head shops that sell legal highs.

Crime prevention minister Norman Baker said: ''From today we will start looking into the feasibility of a blanket ban on new psychoactive substances across the whole of the UK, clamping down on the suppliers and head shops rather than the users.

''This approach had a dramatic impact on the availability of 'legal' highs when introduced in Ireland, but we must ensure it would work here too.''

Recently released figures showed there were 60 deaths related to legal highs in 2013 - up from 52 in 2012 and 29 in 2011.