Novel Psychoactive Substances

o Designer drugs o Legal highs o Novel psychoactive substances o New psychoactive substances

According to EMCDDA a NPS is a drug that- “in pure form or in preparation, that is not controlled by the UN drug conventions, but which may pose a public health treat comparable to that posed by substances listed in these conventions”

Due to a continual cycle of the development of a new variation of NPS as soon as the law is made against the existing NPS

**BZP (benzylpiperazine): **where it all started (the first legal high drug) * Ecstasy (MDMA) class A whereas BZP was, at the time, uncontrolled

Generally, must classify specific structures present in drugs rather than a whole class of drugs that is less common. Hence why drug manufacturers would create variations of piperazines to by-pass this

**Mephedrone (4-methylmethcathinone, MeOW, Mcat, 4-MMC, bubbles) ** • As MDMA became less used substances like mephedrone use got higher • Acutely relatively safe but at the time, the long-term effects were not known

• Structure fell outside the genetic cathinone ban • Allegedly specifically tailored for the UK and manufactured within the EU • When mephedrone was banned, mexedrone came in • To ban a drug, have to prove that drug is harmful, this can be a long process

Spice (2008)- term used to **describe synthetic cannabinoids ** Contains cannabinoid receptor agonists “Spice is an exotic incense blend of the highest quality herbs and herbal extracts” * Usually a herbal mixture o Damiana o Wild lettuce o Skullcap o Motherwort o Red clover o Marshmallow o Blue lotus o Baybean o Pink lotus o Dwarf skullcap o Indian warrior o Lions tail o Maconha brava o White lotus o Siberian motherwart o Vanilla and honey

Synthetic opioids

• AMT is a psychedelic tryptamine prior to June 2016 not controlled in the UK Now may be under the PS act 2016 • AMT was used as an antidepressant at a dose of 5-10mg • At doses of 20-30mg it may cause euphoria, empathy and psychedelic effects that might last for 12 hours • Doses of over 40mg effects may last for 24 hours or more • The freebase from can be smoked

• N-Cumyl-1-(5-fluoropnetyl)indazole-3-carboxamide is similar to 5F-AKB-48 with the adamantly group replaced with cumyl • Allegedly to make it more suitable for delivery with E cigarette vaporisers

• Thiophene analogue of methamphetamine • Possession was not controlled in the UK for some time- then put under a TCDO and finally made class B

• Methylphenidate (Ritaline ®) • Ethylphenidate • 3,4-CTMP • isoPropylphenidate • HDMP-28 (methylnaphthidate)

• Apparently not from any national pharmacopeia • 2mg Xanax is the usual prescription amount so the fake ones can be more than 3x the amount

• Developed and manufactured in China or Eastern Europe • When the research on drug manufacturing was published online it allowed drugs to be developed from these researched drugs for therapeutic use in order to notice similarities to develop NPS

• Head shops and other stores • Open websites • Dark websites • Traditional dealers

**1. As branded products ** a. Usually contained mixtures of drugs **2. As research chemicals ** a. 90% of the time were what they were supposed to be and were pure

• Drugs seized from prisons • Drugs seized from music festivals and clubs • Wastewater analysis • Pooled urine analysis • Surveys

• Over the wall • Drones • Smuggles • Staff • Visitors • Post/mail • Synthetic cannabinoids didn’t show on urine analysis tests so tended to be used