Legal Highs – Deeper Insight into these psychoactive alternatives

CHARIS GRIFFITH

Guyana Forensic Science Laboratory

Legal highs, now more accurately referred to by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) as New Psychoactive Substances (NPS), are unregulated, synthetic substances designed to mimic established illicit drugs (e.g., cannabis, cocaine, ecstasy) while circumventing drug control laws. Other terms used to describe these substances include ‘Novel Psychoactive Substances’, ‘New Synthetic Drugs’, ‘Designer Drugs’, ‘Novel Psychoactive Drugs’, and ‘research chemicals’. They are often marketed as ‘research chemicals’, ‘laboratory reagents’, ‘herbal dietary supplements’, ‘herbal highs’, ‘social tonic’ and ‘party pills’. To circumvent regulations, vendors frequently label these substances as other products, including ‘bath salts’, ‘plant fertilizer’, ‘herbal incense’, ‘room deodorizers’, and ‘aphrosadiac tea’ among others. These substances may be “recent synthesis” or “former synthesis” that were discontinued due to their abuse potential, or current substances that are being used beyond their prescribed medical use. The extent of abuse of legal highs has spread throughout all regions, with prevalence varying from region to region. Abuse of these substances has become so perilous that it has resulted in a number of deaths, among other adverse effects. This presentation will highlight how governments have therefore attempted to assist in the health and safety of their citizens by implementing laws at both the national and international levels to limit the access to these substances. It will also highlight legal highs that continue to surface in different forms in Guyana and around the globe.