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Editorial
European drug report 2017 and opioid-induced deaths
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https://doi.org/10.1136/ejhpharm-2017-001347

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    Introduction

    In June 2017, the European Monitoring Centre on Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) published the European Drug Report 2017 (EDR 2017).1 EMCDDA is the EU agency responsible for monitoring trends on markets and use of psychoactive substances for the EU, Norway and Turkey. The report is available in 24 languages. It provides information about markets, epidemiology and responses to the use of these substances. EMCDDA published 24 country reports simultaneously with the EDR 2017.

    New psychoactive substances

    One continuing trend is the rise of ‘new psychoactive substances’ (NPS). This is a cat-and-mouse game between organised crime and authorities. Organised crime brings new substances to the market which are not (yet) prohibited, while the authorities prohibit the same substances as soon as possible.

    NPS on the European market are mostly synthetic cannabinoids, (highly potent) synthetic opioids, stimulants (eg, cathinones) and benzodiazepines. By the end of 2016, EMCDDA monitored over 620 NPS that have appeared on the European market. In Europe in 2016, 4.0% of school students aged 15 and 16 years used NPS at least once in their lifetime. In some groups, NPS use is high risk, according to the report.

    The cat-and-mouse game leads to a rapid succession of active compounds on the market. As a consequence, we know very little about these compounds and user communities do not know what they are using. They do not build any experience about how to use a specific substance in a relatively safe manner. And when it goes wrong, the emergency ward usually has no specific knowledge on the intoxicant.

    Many users are hardly aware of the risks they take. By using substances about which so little is known, the user takes additional risks and one may question whether it is a good strategy to chase each substance out of the market immediately. One alternative could …

    Correspondence to Dr Willem Scholten, Wielsekade 64, 3411 AD Lopik, The Netherlands

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