The analysis of materials thought to contravene the Misuse of Drugs Acts constitute the highest number of submissions to FSI. The increase in the abuse of New Psychoactive Substances puts additional pressure in this area where the analysis of new materials poses analytical challenges.

During 2017, FSI continued to identify and characterise new psychoactive substances (NPS) encountered in casework and liaise with the Health Research Board and the European Monitoring Centre for Dangerous Drugs of Abuse (EMCDDA). Approximately 15 such substances were identified in 2017.

The demand for case work throughout 2017 significantly exceeded the capacity available. This resulted in significant backlogs across all case types, and especially so in the drugs area. While the right prioritization and focus is being given to the high profile cases, addressing our backlogs and finding ways to better match capacity to demand will be a key focus for FSI in 2018. This will be needed to provide more predictable turnaround times across all service types.
Case numbers reported relative to 2016 are shown in Table 1, p.15