What’s So ‘New’ About New Psychoactive Substances? Definitions, prevalence, motivations, user groups and a proposed new taxonomy

Measham, F.; Newcombe, R.

doi:10.4135/9781473921986.n33

What’s So ‘New’ About New Psychoactive Substances? Definitions, prevalence, motivations, user groups and a proposed new taxonomy

Measham, F.; Newcombe, R.

Authors

F. Measham

R. Newcombe

Contributors

T. Kolind
Editor

B. Thom
Editor

G. Hunt
Editor

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of the varied definitions of New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) or so-called ‘legal highs’, along with data on (relatively low) prevalence in selected countries and user motivations in order to tease out the broader picture of what characterises NPS use. A new typology of NPS is proposed which couples pharmacological effects with chemical classifications, to provide an underlying framework for this review. The authors conclude that the dynamic interaction between the NPS market and policy change initially characterised as ‘cat and mouse’ might now be conceived of as ‘hare and hounds’ in that legislative control has been a significant driving force in manufacturing and retail innovations

Citation

Measham, F., & Newcombe, R. (2016). What’s So ‘New’ About New Psychoactive Substances? Definitions, prevalence, motivations, user groups and a proposed new taxonomy. In T. Kolind, B. Thom, & G. Hunt (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of drug & alcohol studies - social science approaches (576-596). SAGE Publications. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781473921986.n33

Online Publication Date	Oct 7, 2016
Publication Date	Nov 1, 2016
Deposit Date	Sep 13, 2017
Publicly Available Date	Oct 7, 2018
Publisher	SAGE Publications
Pages	576-596
Book Title	The SAGE handbook of drug & alcohol studies - social science approaches.
Chapter Number	33
ISBN	9781473944183
DOI	https://doi.org/10.4135/9781473921986.n33

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