Legal uppers hit an all-time high

It's becoming ever easier to get a legal "high" - and monitoring groups are getting worried.

The problem is that regulators can't keep up with the proliferation of synthetic psychoactive substances being created in laboratories across the world.

Many of these new drugs have similar effects to ecstasy or cocaine - but have a slightly different chemical compound, which makes them legal until regulators can identify and ban them.

At the first international forum on new drugs, held in Lisbon last week, police agencies and drugs groups discussed what they could do.

According to the annual report of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, last year a record number of new substances were reported.

"A total of 41 new psychoactive substances were officially notified for the first time to [the centre and Europol] in 2010. This represents the largest number of substances ever reported in a single year, considerably up on 2009 (24 substances) and 2008 (13 substances)," it said.

The report's list of substances notified shows a "rather diverse" group, including synthetic cannabinoids, cathinones and derivatives of well-established drugs such as ketamine and PCP (phencyclidine).

Among these were 11 new variations of spice - a synthetic drug that mimics the effects of dagga - and 15 that mimic the effects of ecstasy, amphetamines and cocaine.

Derivatives of ketamine, a powerful animal tranquilliser, are being openly sold in shops or online with a "warning" that it should not be consumed by humans.

Wolfgang Götz, director of the European monitoring centre, said: "Given the speed at which new developments occur in this area, it is important to anticipate future challenges.

"While our early-warning system has recently upped its operational capacity to react rapidly to new substances and products identified, it currently lacks the ability to anticipate emerging threats."

Europol director Rob Wainwright said: "The emergence of 'legal highs' is a major feature of Europe's drugs problem today. We also notice that organised crime groups are increasingly active in producing and distributing drugs which can be associated with ecstasy."