A record number of new synthetic drugs are being detected in Europe — but stretched agencies are unable to keep up with the dizzying array of substances because of budget cuts.
The EU drugs agency said police and health bodies were also facing a “game changer”, with some chemicals capable of being trafficked in small packages but able to produce tens of thousands of doses.
The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (Emcdda) said that 81 new psychoactive substances were detected by the EU Early Warning System in 2013.
Scientific director Paul Griffiths said this was a “record number” and compared to 73 in 2012, 49 in 2011 and 41 in 2009.
He said that a further 37 new substances had been detected so far this year.
Although Ireland delivered a blow to the trade in many of these drugs — often known as legal highs — with legislation in 2010 effectively banning head shops, much of the trade has shifted online and onto the street. The Emcdda said 650 websites were selling these substances into Europe, compared with just 170 in 2010. The drugs were also being traded on so-called darknets, which are underground online networks permitting anonymous communication.
Roumen Sedefov, head of the agency’s new drugs section, said users did not know what they were taking: “There is little knowledge about new drugs. Some of them are potentially very dangerous in terms of toxicity. There is no history of human use for many of them, no clinical studies and limited pharmacology.”
He said there was particular concern about four new substances that they had analysed: 251-NBOMe (which mimics LSD); AH-7921 (which mimics heroin); MDPV (mimics cocaine); and methoxetamine (mimics ketamine).
Source: Cormac O'Keeffe, Irish Examiner, 28/05/14
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