VIENNA, Austria - October 2020: The frequency and quantities of new psychoactive substances (NPS) seized in EMCDDA reporting countries peaked in 2015, a trend that seems to have reversed towards stagnation with emerging NPS decreasing to be reported each year, according to the European Drug Report 2020, released on 20 September 2020. A comparison of NPS trends in North America and Europe reflected in the database of UNODC's Early Warning Advisory on NPS reveals that the trend towards stabilization may not be universal.
North America is experiencing a growing diversification and complexity of the NPS market. The number of different NPS present in the North American market increased in eight out of ten years (since 2009) and reached a total of over 300 different NPS in 2019. More recently, this trend is strongly driven by the emergence of Synthetic Opioids: Between 2018 and 2019, close to half (18) of the 40 newly reported substances emerging from North America were Synthetic Opioids.
Figure: Annual number of different NPS in North America and Europe, 2010-2019
Source: UNODC Early Warning Advisory
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