General Article New psychoactive substances

Topic Selected: Drugs Book Volume: 444

Designer drugs, legal highs, new psychoactive substances (NPS), research chemicals.

What are new psychoactive substances?

New psychoactive substances (NPS) are drugs which were designed to replicate the effects of illegal substances like cannabis, cocaine, and ecstasy whilst remaining legal – hence their previous name ‘legal highs’.

NPS began to appear in the UK drug scene around 2008/ 2009. They fall into four main categories:

Synthetic cannabinoids – these drugs mimic cannabis and are trade...

Would you like to see the rest of this article and all the other benefits that Issues Online can provide with?

Sign up now for a no obligation FREE TRIAL and view the entire collection