Brussels, 09/03/2015 (Agence Europe) - More new psychoactive substances (NPS or 'new drugs') were detected in the European Union last year, at the rate of around two per week, according to a report published on Monday 9 March by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA).
In total, 101 new substances were reported to the EU Early Warning System (EWS) in 2014 (compared to 81 in 2013), continuing an upward trend in substances notified in a single year, the drugs agency states. This brings the total number of substances being monitored by the agency to over 450, with more than half of that figure being identified in the last three years alone. This latest report is based on data collected from the 28 member states of the EU, Turkey and Norway.
In 2014, the list of substances reported was dominated once again by two groups: synthetic cathinones (31 substances) and synthetic cannabinoids (30 substances), sold as legal replacements for stimulants and cannabis respectively. “These now represent the two largest groups monitored by the EWS and, together, make up almost two thirds of the new drugs notified in 2014”. The latest data available on seizures suggest a growth in the NPS market. “Between 2008 and 2013, there was a seven-fold increase in the number of NPS seizures across Europe. Almost 47,000 seizures of NPS, amounting to more than 3.1 tonnes, were reported in Europe in 2013”, the EMCDDA reports. Synthetic cannabinoids accounted for the majority of these figures (21,000 seizures; 1.6 tonnes), followed by synthetic cathinones (11,000 seizures; 1.1 tonnes). The agency also expressed concern at the sales of new synthetic opioids, “often highly potent and sold as heroin to unsuspecting users, posing a high risk of overdose”. Three of the five opioids reported in 2014 were fentanyls, a family of drugs that have caused hundreds of deaths in Europe and the US. (Solenn Paulic)