What new psychoactive substances are in our wastewater?

Researchers from the University of Queensland have published a paper titled “Three years of wastewater surveillance for new psychoactive substances from 16 countries.” The researchers monitored wastewater across the New Years eve period in 16 countries around the world for 3 years between 2019 and 2022, looking for new psychoactive substances. Over the last decade there’s been an increasing number of new psychoactive substances, many of which have been developed to evade existing drug laws. The researchers found synthetic cathinones – drugs including mephedrone, eutylone and 3-MMC were relatively common. These drugs are often sold as other drugs like MDMA or cocaine, and some can cause significant harm. Novel benzodiazepines also featured in the wastewater – substances like etizolam and clonazolam, which we frequently see here in Australia in counterfeit Xanax tablets. This study shows the ever-changing nature of the drug market, but also how this is a global market with similar trends occurring across the world. 

 Go to “Three years of wastewater surveillance for new psychoactive substances from 16 countries.”