New synthetic drugs are emerging every day. It’s hard to keep up with what is coming out and how these drugs are impacting our communities. These drugs are often referred to as Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS), Research Chemicals (RC’s) or Legal Highs (although they are not always legal). Lucky for us, the DEA puts out information on which new synthetic drugs are entering their labs.

Keep in mind, though, that the DEA’s reports from the lab are not always completely up to date. I have noticed drug trends on the street that their lab has not caught up with yet. An example is a report they issued earlier this year where they said they had their first submission of fentanyl in crystalline form, although an officer in Northern California recovered some at least one year prior to that report. The reason is simple; the officer’s evidence wasn’t submitted to the DEA lab.

With that said, we can’t ignore some of the good information they are putting out. As an example, the 2018 Quarter 2 report shows that fentanyl accounted for 75% of the 502 (an increase from 378 in Qtr 1) opioid/analgesic identifications. “Of the 279 fentanyl identifications, fentanyl was found as the only controlled substance in approximately 49% of the identifications and was found with heroin in approximately 36% of the
identifications.” In my Fentanyl Safety course, I have been saying that the fentanyl threat will continue to grow and I show in great detail why that is (hint: economics, logistics, and market demand).

The number of synthetic cannabinoid identifications decreased from 101 in quarter 1 to 74 in quarter 2. The most frequently identified synthetic cannabinoids identified this quarter were 5F-MDMB-Pinaca and FUB-AMB, and the most frequently identified cathinone was N-ehtylpentylone. “This is the first time since third quarter 2016 that FUB-AMB was not the most reported synthetic cannabinoid.”

The one issue I have with the report is that the DEA is reporting one submission for benzodiazepines. As I reported earlier in the article “These 4 Synthetic Benzos are Launching the Next Drug Crisis” benzo’s are on the rise on the street. Although they have not been reaching the DEA lab, Homeland Security has reported a number of seizures and officers on the street are reporting an increase as well.