New psychoactive substances Analysing the problem
New drugs
Roumen SedefovEuropean Economic and Social Committee, Public Hearing, 27 November 2013
I will ask and maybe answer…
• What are NPS and what do we know about them?
• Why should we be concerned about them?
• What information do we need in order to respond effectively to them?
From designer drugs to legal highsHow did we get here? The role of globalisation and innovation
The new drug phenomenon in the EU todayFour broad and overlapping groups
• Designer drugs: produced in clandestine labs and sold on illicit drug market as replacements for ‘ecstasy’ or ‘speed’ or heroin. Users mostly unaware that they are taking them
• Legal highs: produced by chemical companies and sold on open market, often as branded products in sophisticated packaging. Sold on the Internet, in head shops and by street-level drug dealers
• Dietary supplements: sold on open market aimed at people going to the gym, looking to loose weight. Sold on Amazon and eBay
Limited data on toxicity and harms
• Medicines: diverted within Europe or imported
Huge growth in number, type and availability303 new drugs notified 2005–2013, 67 notified in 2013 so far…
More than 200 have been notified since 2010
Types of products & users are also broadening out…
• Traditionally most new drugs were marketed to ‘recreational’ users: psychonauts, early adopters (dance music fans)
• Diffusion may have then spread to the broader population (e.g. mephedrone)
• Now seeing both branded and unbranded products used by:
• lifestyle users: gym-goers (‘Craze’, DMAA), weight loss, other enhancement reasons (phenibut)
• problematic users: IV opioid injectors using stimulants (mephedrone and MDPV) or fentanyls (ocfentanyl, carfentanyl)
• self-medication (overlap with all user groups): e.g. importation of non-controlled benzodiazepines from outside EU
Seizures of synthetic cannabinoidsMulti-kilogram quantities usually shipped from China
Amount Cannabinoid Date
54 kg JWH-018 quinolinylcarboxylate derivative Nov 2012
7 kg JWH-018 carboxamide derivative Jul 2012
5 kg JWH-073 Aug 2012
21 kg JWH-018 adamantyl carboxamide derivative Jul 2012
10 kg 5F-UR-144 Jan 2013
20 kg AM-2201 Jan 2013
Processing and packaging in EuropePotent synthetic cannabinoids sold as 'herbal' smoking mixtures
Internet shops and bricks and mortar shopsThe Internet plays a key role in shaping the market
693 online shops identified in 2012 selling to EU
Lifetime use of 'legal highs' in the EU15–24 year olds, percentage by country, n > 12000
In certain countries some new substances that imitate the effects of illicit drugs are being sold as legal substances in the form of - for example - powders, tablets/pills or herbs. Have you ever used such substances?
Mephedrone…Last year use in the United Kingdom
2010/11:
Ages 16-24: 4.4% ~ cocaine, the second most used drug
Ages 16-59: 1.4% ~ ecstasy, the third most used drug
2011/12:
Ages 16-24: 3.3% ~ ecstasy, the third most used drug
Ages 16-59: 1.1%
Do NPS have other uses?Examples…
• Medicines: phenazepam, GHB, pregabalin, etizolam, carfentanil, ketamine
• Intermediates for synthesis of API: mCPP, 2-AI, other?
(both groups excluded from risk assessment and control at EU level)
• Industrial chemicals: GBL, 1,4 BD
• Scientific research & developmental, potential medicines?
4-MA and 5-IT: risk assessed in 2013 and subject to controls
25I-NBOMe: phenethylamine, often sold as LSD, large seizures of blotters, seizures of bulk powders (China)
• Identified in 14 countries, 30+ non-fatal intoxications reported, some very serious
AH-7921: synthetic opioid, sold as ‘research chemical’
• Identified in 6 countries, 10 deaths reported
MDPV: synthetic cathinone, sold as ‘legal high’, ‘research chemical’, and on illicit drug market
• Identified in 17 countries, large seizures, 40 deaths reported
Methoxetamine: ketamine derivative, sold as ‘legal high’, ’research chemical’ and on illicit market as ketamine
• Identified in 12 countries, 9 deaths reported
Detecting and responding to harmsEWS is an event-based monitoring system allowing early detection of signals of harm
• Toxicovigilance: acute emergencies, poisons centres, deaths
• Better epidemiological data across the board
• Better understanding of motives of use and models of diffusion potential and interplay with illicit drug market
• Internet monitoring
• Better detail on major production sites and seizures
• Producer countries and trends in production
• Availability and trends at global level
Knowledge gaps and areas that require strengthening
