Walton SE, Krotulski AJ, Papsun DM, Fogarty MF, Logan BK
National Institute of Justice (NIJ) National Research Conference 2023Novel psychoactive substances (NPS) continue to increase in prevalence in the United States. Constant turnover of these drugs is a concern due to unknown effects and toxicity. The Center for Forensic Science Research and Education (CFSRE) developed NPS Discovery, an NIJ funded drug early warning system, in 2018 to streamline the identification of emerging NPS.
NPS benzodiazepines are the most prevalent subclass of NPS observed in toxicology samples. In early 2022, an increase in positivity for etizolam and flualprazolam were observed, often in combination with opioids. Bromazolam has since taken over as the most prevalent benzodiazepine in late 2022-early 2023. NPS opioids are the second most prevalent subclass observed. After the rise and fall of fentanyl analogues, non-fentanyl synthetic opioids have taken over the NPS opioid drug market. Nitazene analogues are currently the most popular, with N-pyrrolidino metonitazene and N-pyrrolidino protonitazene newly discovered. NPS stimulant/hallucinogen positivity is normally linked to one NPS that dominates the market at a time. After eutylone’s international control in 2022, the positivity of eutylone dropped significantly, while N,N-dimethylpentylone is currently the most prevalent in this class. Synthetic cannabinoids have changed the most in recent years due to a class-wide ban implemented by China. This ban has caused a significant reduction in positivity in 2022 and 2023. MDMB-4en-PINACA has been the most prevalent synthetic cannabinoid observed, followed by ADB-BINACA. Emergence and prevalence of NPS vary greatly and NPS Discovery strives to provide knowledge of changing drug trends and impacts to laboratories and scientists.
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