Current drugs

Kratom is an unscheduled opioid receptor agonist that comes in the form of dietary supplements currently being abused by chronic pain patients on prescription opioids. Active alkaloids isolated from kratom such as mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine are thought to act on mu- and delta-opioid receptors as well as alpha-2 adrenergic and 5-HT2A receptors. Animal studies suggest that kratom may be more potent than morphine. Consequently, kratom consumption produces analgesic and euphoric feelings among users. In particular, some chronic pain patients on opioids take kratom to counteract the effects of opioid withdrawal...

New psychoactive substances (NPS) are a heterogeneous and rapidly evolving class of molecules available on the global illicit drug market (e.g smart shops, internet, "dark net") as a substitute for controlled substances. The use of NPS, mainly consumed along with other drugs of abuse and/or alcohol, has resulted in a significantly growing number of mortality and emergency admissions for overdoses, as reported by several poison centers from all over the world. The fact that the number of NPS have more than doubled over the last 10 years, is a critical challenge to governments, the scientific community, and civil society [EMCDDA (European Drug Report), 2014; UNODC, 2014b; Trends and developments]...