Roumen Sedefov

Risks to public safety and security / European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) | Lisbon (PT)

Lecture:
Highly potent drugs, high strength products: a problem for Europe?

Our world is becoming increasingly complex and interconnected. Goods and ideas flow more quickly and more freely, while regulations and other forms of social control are more easily sidestepped in a world of innovation, open markets, unconstrained communication, and unclear jurisdictions. Drug markets have not been immune to these global changes either, with the markets in controlled drugs and new psychoactive substances (NPS) facing some radical changes over the last decade. Has the availability of pre-precursors for MDMA from China led to new levels of resilience in the market? Does the almost ubiquitous high strength ecstasy pill already suggest so? What might this mean for users and their health? What risks might the appearance of butane hash oil pose in addition to explosions and severe burns caused by its production?

Europe has also seen a large increase in the number of highly potent new psychoactive substances on the market, such as the synthetic cannabinoids and fentanils. These pose a high risk of life-threatening poisoning to users and are capable of causing explosive outbreaks that can overwhelm local healthcare systems. These substances are also relative cheap and easy to conceal and smuggle, with a few grams sufficient to make many thousands of doses for the drug market. Not only do these offer economic incentives to suppliers, but they also reduce the risks of being caught. Of note is that synthetic cannabinoids are no longer just touted as “legal” replacements to cannabis, but have become drugs of choice with a reputation as powerful and cheap intoxicants that cause “mind-numbing” effects. New ways of taking drugs have also emerged: with vaping on the rise, e-liquids containing synthetic cannabinoids have appeared on the market, while the sale of ready-to-use nasal sprays containing fentanils has also increased in some areas. Globalized markets also increase the opportunity for NPS (and a whole range of toxic chemicals such as atropine and scopolamine) to be sold either deliberately or accidentally as other drugs, which, in the case of fentanils sold as heroin, fake medicines, or cocaine, can have disastrous consequences. In this presentation, I’ll be exploring whether highly potent drugs and high strength products are likely to become the new norm, and, if so, what problems might cause for Europe.