Individuals supplying minors with substances which pose a risk to their health or life could soon face a three-year prison sentence, the Polish Ministry of Justice announced on Monday.

The government will seek to introduce changes to the Penal Code before the end of the year to limit access to designer drugs, which have become increasingly popular among Poland's youth.

Designer drugs (‘dopalacze’) replicate the effects of prohibited substances, but their individual chemical components are not necessarily illegal.

Created to bypass existing drug laws, little research has been carried out on most designer drugs and many lead to unexpected and even dangerous side effects.

“There will be no mercy for those who wish to transform the lives of young, promising people into an addict's hell,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Saturday, following the death of a young Pole from a suspected overdose.

Over the weekend just gone around one thousand shops which sold designer drugs were closed by police. They will stay shut until all of their products are analyzed, which might take between a year and 18 months, according to the health inspectorate.

Meanwhile, 24-year old Dawid Bartko, who heads the largest network of dopalacze stores in Poland, has said he would take the state to court.

“In mine and my lawyers' opinion the weekend action was conducted without legal grounds, and for political reasons. We incurred mega losses and will sue,” he said in an interview on TVN 24.