EU Drug Market: New psychoactive substances — Overview of production

This resource is part of EU Drug Market: New psychoactive substances — In-depth analysis by the EMCDDA and Europol.

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Last update: 27 June 2024

Most new psychoactive substances on the European drug market are synthetic substances that are produced in China and India. The growth in the market observed since around 2008 relates to the chemical and pharmaceutical companies operating in these countries, which are capable of making numerous new psychoactive substances and precursors on an industrial scale. This has been driven by increasing expertise and capacity in the science and technology sector, limited regulatory oversight, low labour costs, the internet, and cheap and efficient shipping.

The companies use the internet, including online marketplaces, to advertise and sell a diverse range of substances. Typically, these are supplied in powder form, in quantities that range from a few milligrams to tens or even hundreds of kilograms. Companies can also offer a custom synthesis service for customers looking to obtain a specific new psychoactive substance or precursor that is not currently available on the market.

In some cases, apparently legitimate chemical and pharmaceutical companies also produce new psychoactive substances and precursors in the same factories as their regular products. In others, they may use makeshift factories on the outskirts of a city or in rural areas to produce substances for a limited time. Here, to avoid suspicion, the labourers and chemists may be brought in from outside the local area.

The substances are shipped to wholesalers, retailers, dealers and consumers in Europe using global logistics companies. Small amounts are typically shipped with express mail and courier services, while larger quantities are shipped by air and sea cargo. Consignments may be mislabelled and declared as common goods of low value, including chemical products (e.g. ‘hot melt adhesive powder’ or ‘silicon dioxide’), foodstuffs and cosmetics, to conceal their identity and avoid interception. They may also be concealed using similar methods to those used for trafficking controlled drugs. Suppliers and importers may also deliberately route new psychoactive substances to specific air and seaports in Europe where the substances are not controlled, to reduce the chance of interception. The Netherlands and Spain appear to be two of the most important entry points for large shipments of new psychoactive substances from China and India.

India has long been recognised as a source of non-controlled psychoactive medicines, such as tramadol and ketamine. This reflects a long-established and well-equipped chemical and pharmaceutical industry in the country, part of which was already producing these medicines. Since 2019, there are signs that production has diversified into other new psychoactive substances, especially synthetic cathinones and ketamine-like substances. More recently, India has also been a source of the veterinary medicine xylazine.

This diversification may partially reflect the control of an increasing number of new psychoactive substances in China, as well as greater oversight and scrutiny of companies in and shipments from China. Supply chain disruption during the COVID-19 pandemic may have also played at least a partial role in this diversification; however, it is unclear if this is a temporary or more permanent shift.

Once in Europe, new psychoactive substances are processed and packaged into a range of products (see Figure Principal types of consumer products that can be made from new psychoactive substances). This can occur at different levels of the supply chain. Depending on the type of substance, in some cases processing is minimal, and in others it is more substantial and sophisticated. It may simply involve repackaging powders, and perhaps adding diluents or adulterants. For example, cathinone stimulants may be packaged into smaller quantities and then sold on the street. In other cases, new synthetic opioid or benzodiazepine powders may be tableted to make fake versions of frequently misused medicines (such as oxycodone, diazepam and alprazolam) and sold on the surface web, darknet or at street-level. Some substances, such as synthetic cannabinoids, may be dissolved and used to soak paper (such as letters and photos) which is then smuggled, undetected, into prisons where the paper can be smoked. In more innovative operations, other new psychoactive substances, such as semi-synthetic cannabinoids, may be processed into a range of ‘legal high’ type products – such as smoking mixtures, edibles and vapes – with brightly coloured, professional-looking designs. These may be sold openly in shops, vending machines and online.

Similar to other drugs, the purity of new psychoactive substances, and the presence of adulterants and diluents, depends on factors such as when and where in the supply chain the substances are obtained, and why the substances are used. Limited representative information is currently available, which partly reflects differences in the level of analyses conducted on physical samples as well as reporting practices in Europe. Where reported, bulk quantities of new psychoactive substances, and particularly powders, imported from China and India have typically been described as ‘pure’.

To a lesser degree, some new psychoactive substances, particularly synthetic cathinones, are produced from precursors in Europe. Until 2019, the processing and packaging of new psychoactive substances was commonly found in the European Union, but the synthesis of the drugs was rare (EMCDDA and Europol, 2019). This seems to be changing, with an increasing number of laboratories that synthetised new psychoactive substances being dismantled in Europe between 2017 and 2021.

Data reported to the EMCDDA and Europol show that, in the period between 2013 and 2016, 46 NPS production sites were reported by 12 countries, while in the following period (between 2017 and 2021) the number increased to 110 production sites in 9 countries. The biggest increases were observed in the Netherlands, from 16 sites between 2013 and 2016 to 55 sites between 2017 and 2021, and in Poland, where it increased from 9 to 40 sites in the same time frame (see Figures Number of laboratory sites associated with NPS production dismantled in Europe in 2013-2016 and 2017-2021). The majority of the dismantled sites produced either cathinones (47 sites or 40 %) (see Section Distribution and supply in Europe: synthetic cathinones) or GHB/GBL (34 sites or 29 %) (see Figure Number of laboratory sites associated with NPS production dismantled in Europe in 2017-2021, by category of new psychoactive substance produced and Box Production of GHB in Europe).

As is the case with other synthetic drugs produced in Europe, the precursors may be sourced from China and India. To avoid interception, they may be shipped in mislabelled consignments or concealed using similar methods to those used for trafficking controlled drugs. Other chemicals and equipment required may be sourced from China, India or Europe.

Production may be carried out in Europe for several reasons: existing knowledge of, equipment for and experience in synthetic drug production; sufficient demand for a substance, making the venture economically attractive; control measures and law enforcement operations targeting laboratories in China and India, reducing availability at source; the lack of legal controls on precursors; the potential to make greater profits; risk diversification and building greater resilience into the supply chains; and to reduce the risks of detection by law enforcement agencies.

A few new psychoactive substances, such as the cathinone alpha-PVP and the synthetic opioid carfentanil, may be supplied from Russia and Ukraine to neighbouring EU countries, the latter especially to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. There are recent signals in 2023 of possible fentanyl production in Latvia (see Section Distribution and supply in Europe: new opioids).

In addition, since around 2021, European countries have identified the United States as a source of bulk quantities of semi-synthetic cannabinoids and consumer products containing these substances. Sold as replacements for cannabis and THC, substances such as hexahydrocannabinol (HHC) may be synthesised from cannabidiol (CBD) extracted from low-THC cannabis (hemp). During 2022 and 2023, there were also indications that European suppliers have copied this idea and started to synthesise some semi-synthetic cannabinoids in Europe (see Section Distribution and supply in Europe: semi-synthetic cannabinoids).

Further information on the production of synthetic cathinones, cannabinoids, opioids and ketamine, with a particular reference to European production, is provided in the section on Distribution and supply in Europe.

Source data

All of the source data used in graphics and data tables may be found in our Data catalogue.

References

Consult the list of references used in this module.