A new pilot early warning system for novel substances is already in operation.

The number of suspected poisonings involving synthetic drugs reported to Ireland’s national poison centre has doubled in just three years, with doctors warning that some of these substances – which look to replicate the effects of cocaine or cannabis but which can be much stronger – can’t be detected by routine hospital drug tests. Thirty cases were reported to the National Poisons Information Centre last year, while five enquiries made about these drugs in recent years involved substances so novel they could only be identified after further laboratory testing...