MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay - February 2015: The National Drug Board from Uruguay introduced an Early Warning System (EWS) to detect new psychoactive substances (NPS) and their pattern of use on November 11, 2014. Since the start of EWS, two alerts have been based on emergency room cases. In the first case, a patient had developed health problems after consuming ketamine in combination with other drugs. The second case was related to the use of 25B-NBOMe.

Uruguay is the second country in Latin America after Colombia to implement an EWS, which aims to reduce damage, risks, and contraindications through the use of effective responses.  The Uruguayan EWS involves the Ministries of Health, Interior, Education and Culture,as well as the Health Services Administration of the State. The EWS uses a virtual platform where experts collect, analyse and disseminate information related to drug use. The mechanism is triggered every time the system receives an alert, after which the EWS team performs the chemical characterization of the substance, followed by a notification to all participating institutions. Substances are reported from a network of experts and/or individual persons.

For further information please see:
http://www.presidencia.gub.uy/comunicacion/comunicacionnoticias/jnd-alerta-temprana-sistema-nuevo-deteccion-nuevas-sustancias-formas-consumo
http://www.presidencia.gub.uy/sala-de-medios/videos/junta-nacional-drogas-alerta-tempranahttp://sat.infodrogas.gub.uy/