Legal Responses

How can governments control NPS?

Since 2008, more than 1,000 New Psychoactive Substances have been reported to the UNODC Early Warning Advisory, and the Commission on Narcotic Drugs has placed over 60 different NPS under international control. 
 
A wide range of information on narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and precursors under international control in the six official UN languages can be found in the Multilingual Dictionaries.
 
A continuously updated database of scheduling decisions taken by the Commission on Narcotic Drugs since 1960 is available which includes links to the preparatory documents for each decision.
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Governments around the world have taken a range of legislative responses to address the particular challenges posed by the NPS market which is characterized by the rapid emergence of substances, a wide diversity of substances, attempts by manufacturers to circumvent legislation and the scarcity of data needed for a full evaluation of harm. The UNODC Early Warning Advisory provides an overview of the legislative measures and regulations that have been adopted so far at regional and national levels to respond to these challenges and includes a searchable database by country and type of legislative response. This information is contained in the restricted section of the UNODC Early Warning Advisory. Please contact  unodc-smart@un.org for access.
Detailed information about legislative options for the control of synthetic drugs can be found in the Legal Module of the Toolkit.
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