Europe
is not the only one facing huge challenges in regards to new psychoactive substances , as the illegal drug market in Mexico and other 13 Latin American countries is also facing the appearance of new drugs , warns the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
According to the New Psychoactive Substances Early Warning System from the UNODC , in the last 10 years, at least 14 Latin American and Caribbean countries have reported 178 psychoactive substances ; 61 of them were created in 2017.
Out of all these substances , which appeared in the region in the last decade, 30 of them were created in Mexico .
The UN's Early Warning System told EL UNIVERSAL that “the new psychoactive substances reported by Mexico belong to a wide range of chemicals and psychoactive effects .”
“Among them are hallucinogens, vegetable origin substances, synthetic cannabinoids and stimulants , which includes several synthetic cathinones , and piperazine ,” the organization explains.
It also explains that in 2017 , Latin America surpassed Europe in the identification of new illegal substances for the first time; that year, the European Union detected 51 new substances.
The new Latin American drug market is mainly formed by stimulants, opioids, cannabinoids, dissociative substances ; together, they concentrate 82% of the reported substances .
Some of these new substances are more powerful than morphine and cause several health damages, from intoxication to death .
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