What are synthetic drugs?
Synthetic drugs, or new psychoactive substances (NPS), are also known by a number of other names, including new and emerging drugs (NEDs), bath salts, herbal highs and legal highs.
These drugs aim to mimic the effects of existing illicit drugs such as cannabis, cocaine and ecstasy. Their chemical structures differ from the illicit substances they try to mimic, so they can be marketed as ‘legal’, safe and acceptable alternatives. However, their legality can vary and their safety is unverified. There is limited research on the short, medium and long-term effects of these substances, so it is not known how safe they really are.
There are also concerns about what is actually in NPS. There are no quality control checks on synthetic drugs, so it is not always known what substances they contain.
They come in the form of powders, pills and dried herbs that have been soaked in synthetic chemicals.