Research paperNew psychoactive substances: Current health-related practices and challenges in responding to use and harms in Europe
Section snippets
Background
The emergence of new psychoactive substances (NPS) over the last decade poses an important challenge to drug policy (UNODC, 2013). A new psychoactive substance is defined as ‘a new narcotic or psychotropic drug, in pure form or in preparation, that is not controlled by the United Nations drug conventions, but which may pose a public health threat comparable to that posed by substances listed in these conventions’ (Council Decision 2005/387/JHA). A range of public health issues have arisen as a
Methods
This scoping study was based on a targeted multi-source data collection exercise focusing on the provision of health and drug interventions associated with NPS use and harms, in selected intervention settings. The study comprised: 1) a non-systematic review of the European literature 2) a survey among experts in national focal points in 30 European countries, and 3) semi-structured presentations and facilitated focus groups with fifteen national experts. These were recruited from a range of
Results
The first objective of this study was to explore whether existing interventions are sufficient and adequate in addressing these harms or whether specific NPS interventions are required for particular NPS-using risk groups and delivered in different intervention settings in Europe.
Three quarters of the surveyed REITOX experts (11/17; 65%) reported that either specific NPS interventions had been developed or that there is a perceived need for such targeted NPS interventions in their country.
Discussion
Before moving to some general conclusions, it is important to recognise that the approach used in this study has a number of limitations. The targeted multi-source data collection approach used for this study is designed to explore new and emerging drug-related trends and developments. These will occur, by their very nature, in areas where the existing information and documentation is underdeveloped and partial. Therefore, while proving timely and valuable insights, the approach has obvious
Acknowledgments
This paper is based on work conducted by the EMCDDA and supported by funding from the European Union. The authors would like to thank the REITOX Focal Points and their staff, Harry Sumnall, Amanda Atkinson and Emma Begley from Liverpool John Moores University and the national experts who participated at the EMCDDA technical meeting in 2015 for their contributions to this study.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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2020, International Journal of Drug PolicyCitation Excerpt :For example, the increased use of NPS among established populations of people with heavy drug use and among emerging groups of vulnerable young people has been highlighted through research in several European countries (see Grund et al., 2016; Blackman & Bradley, 2017; Alexandrescu, 2017). These substances have gained some popularity in specific populations including participants in nightlife settings, men who have sex with men, people who inject drugs, homeless and prison populations (EMCDDA, 2016a; 2017; 2018b; Pirona et al., 2016; Ralphs, Williams, Askew, & Norton, 2017; Ralphs & Gray, 2018). In Britain, there has been a significant change in the types of substances consumed by criminal justice populations, particularly within prison settings in the last eight years.
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2020, Neuroscience and Biobehavioral ReviewsCitation Excerpt :What places a drug in this grouping is not uniformly accepted or defined, as such there are multiple ways in which this assignment has been made. Some classify new psychoactive substances as “substances of abuse, either in a pure form or a preparation, that are not controlled by the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs or the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances” (UNODC, 2014; see also Pirona et al., 2017). The extent to which drugs fit this definition changes over time as new substances come into more widespread use and under regulatory scrutiny.
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2019, Seminars in Fetal and Neonatal MedicineCitation Excerpt :The primary reasons behind this unprecedented popularity are the perceptions that they are unscheduled and thus represent ‘legal high’ options, as well as the misconception that some agents such as kratom are benign due to their plant-based nature. Moreover, many substances such as synthetic cannabinoids have nicknames which are misleading as ‘spice’ or ‘herbal high’ implying that they are somehow plant-derived [2,3] (see Table 1). To add fuel to this epidemic, the number of synthesized substances for recreational use has increased phenomenally in the past ten years, making detection of NPS in biological samples collected from abusers extremely difficult.
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2019, The LancetCitation Excerpt :These scenarios reinforce the need for information exchange systems to communicate accurate, reliable information about NPS to people who use drugs, health professionals and other stakeholders, and the public. Indeed, key strategies moving forward include raising awareness of the risks of NPS use among people who use drugs and integrating NPS within established interventions and clinical practice in response to illicit drugs.83 This integration relies on educating and supporting those working in services to better detect, identify, and respond to NPS-related problems.