No slowdown in legal highs flooding Europe, say drug watchdogs

News

No slowdown in legal highs flooding Europe, say drug watchdogs

6 April 2016

By Alan Travis

There are no signs of any slowdown in the continuous stream of legal highs with more than 100 new psychoactive substances reported in 2015, according to a report by Europol and the EU’s drug agency.

The official strategic analysis on the state of the EU drugs market says the number of legal highs being monitored has reached 560 – more than twice the number of the more traditional drugs banned under the international drug control treaties.

The European police and drug experts say as the “low risk, high profit” trade in legal highs has grown so have the harms involved including acute, sometimes fatal, poisonings. The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) has issued 34 urgent public health alerts over the past two years.

Click here to read the full article.

Keep up-to-date with drug policy developments by subscribing to the IDPC Monthly Alert.

Thumbnail: Flickr e-Magine Art