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The language of
new drugs can be
unhelpful at best
and risky at worst.
Kevin Flemen
offers a guide
12 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| September 2014
Awareness |
New drugs
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
Sema tic challe ge
DRUGS
A2
novel
psychoactives
LEGAl
salvia
nos
benzos
cannabinoid
mephedrone
unregulated
MiaOW
O
ur KFx training course Cats, Bees and Dragonflies explores the subject
of newer, emerging drugs, and one of the issues we address very early
on is the frame of reference. This inevitably brings up the vexed
question of what collective terms to use about newer compounds.
For well-rehearsed reasons we should avoid the phrase ‘legal highs’. Many of
the compounds are no longer legal, and not all are stimulants. There is debate
as to whether or not people equate legality with safety, but I am of the mind that
‘legal’ has connotations of being sanctioned or approved; it suggests legality via
permission. As this is not the case, I prefer ‘unregulated’ as opposed to ‘legal’.
The phrase that has become de rigueur among academics and policy experts
is novel psychoactive compounds (or substances). It’s the phrase of choice for
the EU, and the EMCDDA defines it thus:
‘A new narcotic or psychotropic drug, in pure form or in preparation, that is not
controlled by the United Nations drug conventions, but which may pose a public
health threat comparable to that posed by substances listed in these conventions.’
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