The Growing Need to Address the Use of New Psychoactive Substances

A recent paper published in the International Journal of Drug Policy addresses the current health responses to new psychoactive substances (NPS), highlighting key issues to inform the planning and implementation of adequate responses in the future. From it the following key points can be gained:

• New psychoactive substances are new drugs not currently controlled by UN drug conventions but which may pose a public health risk similar to that posed by conventional illicit substances.
• The availability of NPS in Europe has rapidly increased over the last 10 years, although prevalence remains relatively low in general.
• Serious health threats are associated with NPS, the nature and extent of which are not yet fully known.
• Knowledge on current practices as well as challenges faced by health professionals responding to harms caused by NPS remains incomplete.
• Health professionals across most intervention settings, broadly speaking, rely on acquired expertise with traditional drugs when addressing NPS use and related harms.
• Some health professionals lack up-to-date and reliable information about NPS.
• Health professionals working in sexual health clinics and custodial settings report particular challenges in responding to NPS use and related harms.
• There is an urgent need to formulate and implement effective public health responses regarding NPS use.
• This would involve immediate investments to expand substance identification capabilities, competence building among health professionals to deal with NPS related harms and better dissemination of educational information.
• In the current context of a rapidly expanding European drug market for NPS, neglecting under-served risk populations, for example LGBT and youth communities, as well as failing to address the needs of health professionals for improving their response to NPS use and related harms, may have wide-ranging social consequences.

Click here to access the article in the International Journal of Drug Policy.