By Keith Williams, Ph.D. - Business Manager, Analytical Standards Europe, Cayman Chemical

The European Monitoring Centre for Drug and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) released its annual European Drug Report Trends and Development on 9^th June 2021. The report provides a mixture of data from 2019 and 2020, and for the first time excludes data from the United Kingdom since leaving the EU.

The report highlights the difference in scale between the seizures of traditional drugs of abuse. 74% of all seizures were associated with herbal Cannabis, Cannabis resin, or Cannabis plants. Cocaine/crack, amphetamine, heroin, and MDMA accounted for 11, 5, 3, and 3%, respectively. In terms of weight, the report details seizures of 707 tonnes of Cannabis material, 215 tonnes of cocaine, 20.3 tonnes of amphetamine, and a comparatively low 3.9 tonnes of methamphetamine. MDMA powder (2.3 tonnes) and 13.4 million tablets were also reported as being seized.

Forty-six new psychoactive substances (NPS) were reported to the EMCDDA Early Warning System on NPS for the first time in 2020. These were presented mainly as powders. The graph below shows the emergence of NPS from 2008 through to December 2020.

Data from the European Drug Report 2021, page 27
https://www.emcdda.europa.eu/system/files/publications/13838/TDAT21001ENN.pdf

Including these newly identified materials, the EMCDDA now monitors for the presence of more than 830 NPS, of which approximately 50% are seen on the market in any one year. In terms of weight, this represented 2.7 tonnes of seizures in 2019. They are particularly concerned about the appearance of benzodiazepines and consequently, have released a second report regarding new benzodiazepines.

Of critical importance for the correct identification and measurement of NPS by laboratories is the availability of high-quality analytical standards and reference materials. Cayman is committed to meeting this challenge and continually produces the reference materials required for research and law enforcement. Recent highlights include the following materials, all available now.

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Need help with an unknown? Submit your GC-MS data and any relevant information to techserv@caymanchem.com and our scientists can help you solve it.

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