Snapshot of International New Psychoactive Substances Consumption: Case Studies over the 2019/20 and 2020/21 New Year period

There is considerable concern around the use of new psychoactive substances (NPS), but still little is known about how much they are really consumed. Analysis by forensics laboratories of seized drugs and post-mortem samples as well as hospital emergency rooms are the first line of identifying both ‘new’ NPS and those that are most dangerous to the community. However, NPS are not necessarily all seized by law enforcement agencies and only substances that contribute to fatalities or serious afflictions are recorded in post-mortem and emergency room samples. To gain a better insight into which NPS are most prevalent within a community, complementary data sources are required. In this respect, wastewater analysis is an alternative. In this work, the analysis of influent wastewater for NPS from 12 countries will be presented, as well as the difficulties associated with working with international samples. Samples were collected over the 2019/20 and 2020/21 New Year period to determine whether any changes in consumption patterns could be determined.