ISSUES
: Drugs
Chapter 1: Drug issues
7
continues to cause great concern.
For the third year running these
drugs were more to likely to leave
people needing emergency medical
treatment than any other group we
explored this year – with 3.5% of
last year users reporting having
sought EMT in the last year a (30%
increase from 2.5% last year).
The risk increased to one in eight
users who reported using 100
or more times. This confirms our
work published in March that the
risk of seeking EMT was 30 times
higher with SC products than high-
potency herbal cannabis (skunk,
hydro). Our findings also highlighted
the risk of dependence on these
drugs with over 60% of those
using 50 or more times reporting
withdrawal symptoms on cessation.
While herbal preparations remain
the most common we also saw the
appearance of crystal, resin and
liquid forms.
Why?
GDS remains confused as to why
there remains a market for such an
unsafe and less pleasant drug than
the natural alternative. Our findings
on the motivations among users
of novel psychoactive substances
(NPS) however, suggests that price
might be a key driver, with the
average gram of synthetic cannabis
(SC) costing
€
8 vs.
€
12 for weed,
with most people getting ten joints
from a gram of SC vs. three from
a gram of natural. Among some
groups where access to natural
cannabis is difficult there may be a
greater attraction – such as prisons
(where I work part time) and where
people wish to avoid detection
in drug screens. Think your train
drivers, miners and truckers! Profits
margins are huge, export is easy and
regulation unenforceable. Perhaps
cannabis dealers might like to lower
the price of their produce, offer
something other than high THC
weed and governments consider if
their regulation efforts on cannabis
like products might be focused
elsewhere? Maybe even offer
some safe using limit guidelines
for cannabis now it’s legal in some
places. Oh hang on GDS is already
doing that and releasing them in
mid June!
Other novel psychoactive
drugs (NPS)
Synthetic cannabinoids whilst the
most numerous in terms of new
notifications and market share are
not the only class of NPS being
marketed and used out there. And
while GDS wont jump in the media
scare mongering we did find that the
rate seeking EMT on NPS generally
was at least three times greater
than for traditional illicit drugs.
Unknown potency, limited honest
product information (due to
government regulation) and varied
effect and risk profiles make shiny
packets not a great way to get high.
But, as usual, the factors leading to
people seeking EMT on new drugs
are pretty similar to the risks with
old. The GDS poem for new drug
takers is “If you take a drug you
do not know our advice start low
go slow and ask a mate to keep an
eye on you cos you never know with
something new”. If governments are
going to “ban all new drugs that get
you high” then they need to better
educate people who use traditional
drugs to use them more safely. The
GDS
High-Way Code
does exactly
this.
Research chemicals – trends in
use
They’re on the decline. They may
be more numerous but GDS has
spotted a year decline in the UK
and this has been noted elsewhere.
Why? Because beyond being
cheap, most of these new drugs
offer less desirable and a more
risky experience than the traditional
drugs used across the world. And
given drug use is a goal-orientated
behaviour with consumers making
generally smart informed decisions
around what they use, unless new
drugs convey significant advantage
in one or more domains (and price
for some is very important) few will
catch on.
The UK still uses more than most
but really with the re-emergence
of better quality traditional drugs
and the dark net I am unsure where
these much hyped drugs are going
in most countries.
Cocaine
Cocaine
remains
the
most
expensive drug per gram in the
world (cannabis seeds are the most
expensive though not strictly a
drug of course). Most users (80%)
use less than ten times in the last
12 months in most countries at a
mean price of
€70
, the average of
consumed dose of 1/2gm seems to
be an example of harm reduction by
price (minimum pricing in the UK).
NZ and Australia remain the priciest
place to buy cocaine in the world –
why – because their border control
is great and the size of the markets
they offer to cartels is small. The
presence of crystal meth also helps
(or not, since it is a drug with whole
loads more problems for users in
most cases). Certainly, cocaine
markets have responded to the
possibility of competition and low
satisfaction with their product with
a global two-tier market both at
ounce/kilo level and street dealing
gram levels. And before you think
of going to Brazil for cocaine don’t,
but you have to wait till they come
out with their findings later this
month to find out why.
Potency and problems
But the Emergency Room and
the Accident & Emergency Dept
are not only the preserve of those
taking new drugs, and clearly
on a population level and when
considering the public health and
economic costs, alcohol wins
hands down. No surprise there but
we were kind of shocked that 1% of
last year cannabis users had sought
EMT in the previous 12 months
(compared to 1.2% of drinkers).
That’s a lot of people who are using
a drug that we kind of think of as
not that risky at least in the short
term. Now while most reported
feeling ‘back to normal’ within a
day, overwhelmingly they’d smoked
high potency weed – so once again
potency ain’t always a good thing.
Again, we hope some guidelines
might help.
MDMA – sometimes bigger
is not better
Now I know some people will give
me a hard time if I keep on about the
emergency room and acute drug
