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3/11/2014
2014 Drug Trends
Update: Version 6.3
Presented by:
Michael Litterer, CHES
Director of Community Prevention
Prevention Links, Inc.
Prevention Links
Prevention Links mission is to foster healthy, sustainable communities
by empowering people through education, collaboration, and linkages
to resources.
Program Divisions:
Community Prevention
Health and Wellness Coalition of Union County
Municipal Alliance and School Based Programs
Juvenile Reentry Mentoring
IOP, Evaluation, and Early Intervention Programs
Family Wellness
Bayway and Roselle Family Success Centers
Recovery Supports
Raymond Lesniak Recovery High School
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The Health and Wellness Coalition
of Union County
Funded by the New Jersey Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services
Mission:
The Health and Wellness Coalition of Union County’s mission is to assess the needs of Union County in order to enhance collaboration and coordinate
prevention efforts that foster a drug free lifestyle and create healthy communities.
Vision:
Our Vision is by 2017; the Health and Wellness Coalition of Union County will create prevention prepared communities through a collaborative effort to
reduce underage drinking, marijuana use, the miss-use of opioids and prescription drugs, heroin use and new and emerging drugs across the lifespan
throughout Union County.
There is no exact definition, because the term is used to describe a wide range of
chemical products that are ever-changing. Unlike drugs such as marijuana and cocaine,
these drugs do not come from plants; they are manmade.
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Drug synthesis allows drugs
with an only minuscule
structural difference to
produce the same
intoxicating effect while not
falling under current
regulations and testing.
This creates the ultimate
game of WACK-A-MOLE and
the game is just getting
bigger and bigger
http://www.njconsumeraffairs.gov/design
er/ddInfo.htm
http://www.policymic.com/articles/80091/whichdrug-is-your-state-most-addicted-to-america-sdrug-problem-mapped
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Designer drugs are synthesized
chemical analogues of known,
dangerous drugs
Our Biggest Trends are
• Synthetic Marijuana
• Synthetic Cathinones and
Phenethylamines
• (Bath Salts, Molly)
• Vaporized Substances
• (Blue Blossom, BHO etc.)
All are classified as designer drugs
and connected in many ways.
According to NIDA these are the most prevalent drug trends in the US
•
•
•
•
•
e-Cigarettes
“Krokodil”
“N-bomb” “Benzos”
“Syrup,” “Purple Drank,” “Sizzurp,” “Lean”
“Molly” “Bath Salts”
http://www.drugabuse.gov/drugsabuse/emerging-trends
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The World Drugs Report said that as of 1/1/13 there were 251 known New
Psychoactive Substances (NPS) and they now outnumbered the number of
internationally controlled drugs, 234.
The U.S. had identified 158 NPS in 2012, the largest number worldwide, and more
than twice as many as the European Union.
The most frequently reported substances were
• synthetic cannabinoids (51 in 2012, up from 2 in 2009)
• synthetic cathinones (31 in 2012, up from 4 in 2009)
The overwhelming variety of synthetic drugs flooding the market has been leaving
law enforcement scrambling to keep up. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)
statistics report that:
Five new synthetic drugs are introduced to the U.S. market every month
With more than 200 kinds identified by the DEA in 2009
That would mean there are roughly 500 synthetic drugs being distributed
at present
 Resulting in a billion-dollar industry within the U.S.



http://www.thefix.com/content/lawenforcement-struggling-withholdsynthetic-drug-rise
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Synthetic Cathinones
Synthetic Cannabinoids
Piperazines (Benzos)
Tryptamines (DMT)
Phenethylamines 2C Drugs
http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/nflis/
Information obtained from Union
County Prosecutor’s Forensic
Laboratory
2010
2011
2012
2013
(First 6 months)
Projected
2013 Total
Submissions
Percentage
increase/decrease
from 2010 to 2013
Synthetic Cathinones (Bath Salts)
Methylone (MDMC) and MDPV
0
10
65
101
202
+200%
Synthetic Cannabinoids
0
28
70
87
174
+174%
MDMA (Xtasy)
61
21
5
1
2
-96.7%
0%
Benzylpiperazine
20
26
7
10
20
Cocaine
1,047
1,049
875
424
848
-19%
Heroin
763
831
901
430
860
+12.7%
Marijuana
1,862
1,936
2,081
1,036
2072
+11.3%
Oxycodone
131
154
143
57
114
-12.9%
-29.4%
Hydrocodone
17
17
19
6
12
Alprazolam (Xanax)
64
84
96
60
120
+87.5
Phencyclidine (PCP)
9
17
10
5
10
+11.1%
Prescription Legend Drugs
93
103
79
40
80
-14%
Information provided by the Union County
Prosecutor’s Office
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In the United States, the average purity of:



Heroin has increased by 60%
Cocaine has increased by 11%
Marijuana has increased160%
between 1990 and 2007, while the prices of these drugs,
adjusted for inflation and purity, fell about 80%
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/10/04/
illegal-drugs-are-cheaper-stronger-than-ever/
Source: NJ.com
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
A psychoactive herbal and chemical product

Comprised of a mixture of smokable herbs that generally have little or no
intoxicating effects

Synthetic THC in liquid form is sprayed on the product which allows for great
variations in potency

Mimics the effects of cannabis when consumed but does not have the same
suspected medical uses as natural cannabis

Has tested to be 5-500 times stronger than naturally grown marijuana

It has been estimated that there are 250 different chemical versions of synthetic
marijuana

Marked as “herbal incense or potpourri” to
avoid FDA Intervention

The high produced lasts anywhere from 15
minutes to 2 hours

Adverse side effects are similar to natural
marijuana but can often be worse:

Nausea

Vomiting

Increased Agitation

Increased Heart Rate

Seizure

Loss of Consciousness

High rates of kidney
failure especially
among young men
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SYNTHETIC CANNABINOIDS
MARIJUANA
Unregulated mixture of chemical compounds
Same basic compound (THC)
Mixed/unpredictable symptoms
Well-known symptoms
Longer half-life (prolonged high)
Well-known duration
Onset 5-10 minutes
Almost immediate onset
Severe hallucinations
No hallucinations
Intense paranoia
Little to no paranoia
Extreme anxiety
Relaxing
Rigid muscle tone
Normal muscle tone
Normal pupil size
Dilated pupils
Normal light reaction
Normal light reaction
Increased heart rate/BP
Increased heart rate/BP
Bloodshot/red eyes
Bloodshot/red eyes
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
Phenethylamine have a class of compound called cathinones. Cathinones are
naturally occurring compounds that include stimulants, psychedelics, and
entactogens. Bath Salts, Ecstasy, Molly, MDMA, etc. are synthetic versions of these
cathinones. Because the natural versions have a wide variety of impact on the body,
so do the synthetic forms.
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Source: NJ.com
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
Various cathinones are the active ingredient in Bath Salts. While all forms of bath
salts are cathinones, not all cathinones are bath salts.

Cathinones are traditionally a stimulant but can also have hallucinogenic
effects.

Excessive cathinone usage can cause loss of appetite, anxiety, irritability, insomnia,
hallucinations and panic attacks.

Chronic abusers are at risk of developing personality disorders and of sustaining
myocardial infarction.

Mephedrone is a synthetic version of natural Cathinones. Mephedrone is more
potent as a releasing agent of serotonin compared to cathinone or methcathinone,
hence its use in party pills as a replacement for MDMA.

Synthetic Cathinones such as mephedrone which are chemically similar to
cathinone, naturally found in the plant Catha edulis (khat), were first synthesized in
the 1910s.
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
According to the DEA, they range in price from $25 to $50
per 50 milligram packet. Drug users indicate that a single
dose ranges from 5mg to 200mg. As popularity increases
so does price

Mimics the effects of cocaine and LSD, including:
 Stimulation
 Extreme paranoia and delusions
 Hallucinations
 Suicidal thoughts

Effects last about 3-4 hours but some users report effects
lasting days and weeks

Often still labeled “not for human consumption”

Urine tests are available for MDPV and Mephedrone but
not for a-PPP, MPPP, or MDPPP

Products packaged to look like ‘bath salts’
or candy and less frequently as insect repellant
or plant food.

Blatantly marketed towards kids

Common street names include:


Bath Salts, Legal Cocaine, 4-MMC, Meow, M-Cat, Bubbles, Meph,
Drone, Plant Food
Brand Names include:
 Ivory Wave, Ocean, Charge, White Lightning, Cloud-9,
White Dove, Hurricane Charlie, Bonsai Grow, and Scarface
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