• January 4, 2022
  • Posted by: Keith Graves
  • Category: Uncategorized
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In 2021, we know of at least 27 new synthetic drugs that came to the market. That’s one new synthetic drug introduced every other week. We have been saying for over 10 years that synthetic drugs were going to conquer the market and that has happened. Often called NPS drugs (for Novel Psychoactive Substances), this class of drugs has been sweeping the illicit drug market. 

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Cannabinoids are the Most prevalent in 2021

In 2021, Synthetic Cannabinoids were the most popular drugs to come to the market. This was predicted, however. Most of these drugs come from chemical manufacturers in China. Recently, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) outlawed certain synthetic cannabinoids. In order to skirt this law, Chinese chemists went to work and developed new synthetic cannabinoids by changing a molecule here and there to create new drugs that skirted the CCP’s new law. To make matters worse, the CCP is giving tax incentives to chemical manufacturers that make certain variations of these drugs. 

Opioids came in 2nd, but they missed being on top by only 1. Many of these opioids are offshoots of fentanyl with some being more potent than fentanyl. Still, other opioids are not as powerful and have no association with fentanyl. The drug category to watch out for, though, would be hallucinogens. There appears to be a growing market online for synthetic hallucinogenic drugs. 

 

synthetic drug trends

New Opioids in 2021

New opioids introduced last year include Butonitzene and Etodesnitzene which we wrote about here. These two drugs will be drugs that you will see more of in the very near future. Their popularity is growing every day. Other opioids discovered include Flunitzene, protonitzene and metodesnitazene. Some of these drugs are much more potent than fentanyl, with some suggesting they can be up to 2-6 times more potent than fentanyl. 



Author: Keith Graves
Keith is a retired Police Sergeant, working his entire 29 year career in the San Francisco Bay Area. Keith is a recipient of the prestigious California’s Narcotics Officer of the Year Award and is a prior winner of MADD’s California Hero Award. He has years of experience as a Narcotics Detective and a Narcotics Unit Supervisor and is a Drug Recognition Expert Instructor (IACP #3292). Keith has developed several courses for the Department of Defense, California Narcotics Officers Association, and California POST, and numerous police agencies and private corporations. Keith has held other assignments besides narcotics including Training Sergeant, Patrol Sergeant, COPPS Officer, Traffic Officer, and 20 years as a SWAT Team member and Sniper Team Leader. Keith has taught thousands of officers and businesses around the world about drug use, drug trends, compliance training and drug investigations. Keith is also the founder of Christian Warrior Training, where he provides free resources and training to church security ministries. He is recognized as an international drug expert and has testified as an expert in court proceedings on drug cases, homicide cases and rape prosecutions. Keith earned a BA in Business Management from Saint Mary’s College of California and a MA in Criminal Justice. Keith is the Founder and President of Graves & Associates, a company dedicated to providing drug training to law enforcement, the Department of Defense, and private industry internationally. You can follow Keith on social media on Facebook (DopeCop and DrugEnforcementCops), twitter (DopeCop) and Instagram (DrugEnforcementCops).

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