New psychoactive substances
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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 traded under such names as Clockwork Orange, Black Mamba, Spice and Exodus Damnation. They bear no relation to the cannabis plant except that the chemicals which are blended into the base plant matter act on the brain in a similar way to cannabis.
Stimulant-type drugs – these drugs mimic substances such as amphetamine, cocaine and ecstasy and include benzylpiperazine (BZP), mephedrone, methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV) naphyrone (NRG-1), Benzo Fury, methylenedioxy-2-aminoindane (MDAI), and ethylpheni...
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