Skip to main content

HRB National Drugs Library

Emerging trends

Staff of the Health Research Board have a role in the EU Early Warning System

You can access items in the library collection in relation to emerging trends through the following links:

Screening icon

Screening

Screening method laws icon

Methods

Testing service icon

Testing

Toxicology icon

Toxicology

International icon

International

Ireland icon

Ireland

Key resources include:  
The EU early warning system webpage and the UNODC early warning advisory on new psychoactive substances webpage.
Scottish Rapid Action Drug Alerts and Response (RADAR) dashboard

Key documents include: 

New (novel) psychoactive substances 
A new psychoactive substance (NPS) is defined as 'a new narcotic or psychotropic drug, in pure form or in preparation, that is not controlled by the United Nations drug conventions, but which may pose a public health threat comparable to that posed by substances listed in these conventions'.

Link to all new psychoactive substances

Link to Irish new psychoactive substances

Ireland’s preparedness for emerging drug threats

Drug markets are continually evolving with changes being observed in drug potency and quality posing a threat to public health. An emerging stimulant and poly drug culture are major issues of concern. The need to be prepared to deal with such threats has been identified as a key priority by the Council of Europe, who have also highlighted the importance of early warning in preventing drug-related public health crises. Ireland’s National Drug and Alcohol Strategy: ‘Reducing Harm, Supporting Recovery: A health-led response to drug and alcohol use in Ireland 2017–25’ also highlights that there is a need to develop analytical capacity, data collection and public warning mechanisms to strengthen the response to the illegal drug market.

Public health systems have to cope with a rapidly changing situation in which a highly efficient and productive drug manufacture and distribution system can quickly supply new markets. While routine monitoring systems have greatly strengthened public health’s response to the drugs phenomenon, there is a need to grow the capacity to identify and assess threats to health quickly, communicate these threats in a clear and targeted way, and manage the data from the assessment and the response to further improve monitoring and strengthen preparedness for future events.

From the mid-2000s, the quantity, type, and availability of novel substances increased dramatically in Europe as the internet provided both the scientific information required to modify existing compounds and a means to facilitate distribution. Most novel substances serve as a short-term replacement for the more established drugs and are quickly replaced by newly synthesised products as their predecessors are controlled or fall out of favour. Legal classification of NPS is the first step in the policy response to the problem. From early on in their emergence on drug markets, international organisations have agreed to describe them as substances not controlled under the United Nations Drug Control Conventions, the basis on which most countries establish their drug control legislation. The volume of new drugs and the frequency of novel syntheses have made legislative responses difficult and there is considerable variety in the approaches taken by national governments.

The information exchange and early warning step of Regulation (EC) No 1920/2006 is operationalized as the European Union Early Warning System on New Psychoactive Substances (EU Early Warning System, EWS). The European Drugs Agency (EUDA) is responsible for collecting, analyzing, and communicating the information reported by this network of national early warning systems and various European agencies. Early warning activities are conducted in accordance with the requirements of the Regulation and Council Framework Decision 2004/757/JHA. The scientific response to the emergence of new drugs in the EU has been highly coordinated. Monitoring bodies, laboratories, and health experts have created an integrated system of early warning systems across the EU, coordinating the work of national networks and building an efficient process of identification of substances likely to cause harm, adverse event reporting, and advice for both health services and regulatory authorities. These early warning networks amplify the knowledge gained through innovative monitoring tools and work as integral part of the identification, assessment and communication of threats to public health.

Ireland is implementing the European regulation and the Department of Health provides secretarial support for an Early Warning and Emerging Trends (EWET) network. The network meets quarterly to exchange information and is used as a vehicle to disseminate formal notifications from EUDA’s EWS. The primary function of EWET is to exchange information on new psychoactive substances and, through monitoring, to detect, assess, and respond to public health and social threats. This includes threats that may not be directly caused by a new psychoactive substance but due to other hazards that are associated with their use.

In 2021, a working group chaired by the Health Service Executive reviewed health and social responses to use in nightlife settings as well as the adaptation of substance analysis to inform early warning responses to drug trends. The group made a series of recommendations to help improve drug monitoring and early warning structures in Ireland. The aim was to enable detection of drug threats, develop the capacity to respond quickly and to also start developing the necessary foundations for establishing an Irish early warning mechanism. The recommended projects involve applying epidemiological monitoring techniques to collate information from a number of sources at a fast rate and combine these findings with new analytical techniques to inform accurate and rapid public health responses.  

Since 2021, a number of pilot emerging drug trends projects have been undertaken to help develop Ireland’s preparedness to drug market changes These projects provide periodic reports based on the data provided and continue to be an important source of information on drug trends. Ireland has participated in two European Web Surveys and included a special module for topics of particular interest in Ireland. The HSE has provided a back-of-house drug checking service at several summer festivals since 2023.  This service is closely integrated with the voluntary outreach work to festival goers. The HSE has conducted analysis of discarded syringes as part of its involvement in the EUDA ESCAPE project. Following small pilot projects in 2023, UCD undertook a major wastewater analysis project supported by the HSE. Services regularly report incidents of concern to the HSE and these are recorded and studied to determine if action is needed for public safety.

In 2023 the Health Research Board published an evidence brief which present case studies of national early warning systems supported by online platforms in Scotland, The Netherlands and Sweden. This report will be of use in developing an online early warning platform in Ireland, and it will include elements of each the systems studies. The early warning system will support the early detection, assessment, and timely response to public health risks both at national- and EU-level. Such events may also reveal potential public health risks that had previously gone unrecognised. For monitoring purposes, incidents, events and other occurrences of interest will be referred to as a signal.  Signals are reports of events such as seizures or discovery of a substance, a poisoning or injury reportedly related to a substance or verbal communication to a stakeholder. Further work is ongoing in relation to incident report forms for harm reduction key workers and services, and analysis of overdose samples from hospital emergency departments.

Page last updated: April 2025