New Psychoactive Substances (NPS): An Old Problem

Abstract

The modern era of drug control dates back 100 years to a time when the substances of concern were opium, morphine and cocaine. Subsequently, international attempts were made to prevent the diversion of diamorphine, the diacetyl ester of morphine. Soon, other, non-controlled, esters of morphine started to appear. They were the first ‘designer drugs’ providing no specific advantages except that they were not controlled. Their production only ceased after generic controls were introduced on esters of morphine. The next phase of designer drug production occurred in the 1980s when numerous fentanyl and pethidine derivatives were manufactured to evade existing controls. Although some non-controlled phenethylamines had appeared in the 1960s, they became widespread in the 1990s and beyond largely following the publication of the book PiHKAL. After around 2005, an ever-increasing number of novel substances started to appear in Europe and elsewhere. This period was marked by the huge variety of substances, now known as new psychoactive substances (NPS). Between 1997 and 2020, over 800 NPS were notified to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction. They represented a wide range of chemical families although most fell into a limited range of pharmacological types such as stimulants, entactogens, synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists, narcotic analgesics and hallucinogens. The identification, analysis and anticipation of novel substances continues to be challenging.