Training & Consultancy: Courses

#Trending Drugs: novel psychoactives & (re)emergent drugs

Duration: 1 day

Who is the course for: Workers who need to be up-to-date with novel psychoactives and other emergent drugs. This includes drugs workers, housing and custody workers, and health settings.

About the course: This flagship course has run for over ten years, before the emergence of Mephedrone and has been significantly updated. Previously as Cats, Bees and Dragonflies, it looked at the emergence of new products sold legally via the internet and head-shops and equipped workers with the knowledge and skills to understand the phenomenon of NPS.

Following changes to the law, and shifts in drug trends, the course has been revised again. The course still looks at newer, emergent drugs - so-called "Novel Psychoactive Substances." The course also picks up on re-emergent or trending drugs which may not be so new, but are gaining popularity and therefore need greater attention.

Objectives: By the end of the course workers will be able to:

List key new or re-emergent compounds being used in the UK
Recount key legal issues for emergent drugs including the PSA
Describe how the Dark Web is used to procure substances and implications
Locate old and new compounds within a categorisation framework
Explain the pharmacological action of key types of compound
Ascribe key facts to specific new compounds especially

synthetic cannabinoids, newer benzos, emergent opiates,

describe core principals in working with unknown compounds
Describe harm reduction interventions applicable to newer compounds
List key sources of information for new and emergent compounds

Course includes:

Terminology - NPS, CDs, Legal Highs and other terms
The legal framework: MoDA, Psychoactive Substances Act
A brief history of NPS - from Shulgin to Spice
Trends and changes in NPS use
Categories: tryptamines, phenylethylamines, cannabinoids etc
A very crash course in drugs and brain chemistry
Working with unknown compounds
Key drugs: SCRAs, Benzos (including Alprazolam/Xanax),Pregabalin, newer opiates (including fentanyls), MDMA, Nitrous Oxide
Harm reduction interventions
Sources of information

Format: Taught sections, small group work, work in pairs, whole group discussion.

Handouts: Full handouts will be provided, and sources of further information

DANOS Modules: AA1, AB1, AB2, AC1, AD1, AF1, AG1, AG2, AG3, AH3, AH4, AH7, AL1, AL2

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