Editorial and perspective

This special issue provides a multidisciplinary snapshot of recent developments of the broader, arguably phenomenal, changes to the drug market that have occurred in the past decade related to the rise of the new drug phenomenon. This change is largely a result of the growing commodification by entrepreneurs, and increasingly, by criminal groups, of a huge range of psychoactive substances not controlled under drug laws and fuelled by their sale on an open market.

The issue includes papers that were presented at the Third International Forum on New Drugs, organized by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) and held in Lisbon in June 2013. The aim of the forum was to bring together experts from around the world to exchange experiences, identify information gaps and research needs, as well as anticipate future developments and challenges related to the emergence of new drugs. The issue builds on and provides an update to the papers published in the special issue on new psychoactive substances published in Drug Testing and Analysis in 2011 (Vol. 3, issues 7–8). Other issues dedicated to psychoactive substances (‘illicit drugs’ and ‘psychedelic substances’) were also published in 2011 (Vol. 3, issue 9) and 2012 (Vol. 4 issues 7–8), respectively...