Revellers warned of new drug’s dangers
NBOMe, which is produced mainly in China and India, is sold in square paper blotters and sugar cubes, the way mind-alerting drug LSD has traditionally been sold.
There have been reports across Europe that the drug is being sold as LSD, but experts say that while it affects the same region of the brain, it is a different chemical and has other, largely unknown side-effects.
There have been reports of the drug in 14 EU states, with the first reports of non-fatal intoxications this year. Experts are concerned dealers will use the booming summer festival market to offload NBOMe on users looking for LSD, commonly known as acid.
“People are telling us that the person taking it or the person who it is seized from think it is LSD,” Andrew Cunningham, a scientific analyst at the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) said.
“LSD is quite rare in recent years, you don’t see it, and when you do, it’s at the summer festival season. That is leading us to worry are we going to see paper tabs out during the festival season and people thinking it’s LSD.”
He said the effects of NBOMe are not well studied, and users do not know what they are taking.
He said the drug is “more potent” than normal phenethylamines (the chemical group that includes amphetamine and ecstasy), from which NBOMe is derived.
“It takes something that is already quite strong and makes it much stronger. That’s why the dosage is low,” said Mr Cunningham.
Last February, there were a “cluster of serious non-fatal intoxifications” in the north-east of England.
He said the drug has been seen in Sweden, Hungary, Poland, Finland, France, Germany, Slovenia, Norway, Spain, Britain, Italy, Austria, and Belgium.
“That is not to say it’s not available in other countries. There’s no reason to see why it won’t spread to other EU countries. It’s sold on the internet so it could go anywhere.”
Garda sources said they had not seen the drug yet, but would be keeping an eye out for it at festivals.
The EMCDDA said NBOMe is just one of a raft of new drugs appearing at a “dramatic” rate. It said 73 new psychoactive substances were reported in 2012 — the highest to date — bringing to 300 the number of new drugs detected in recent years.
Of the 73 substances reported, 30 were synthetic cannabis-type drugs, and 14 were phenethylamines.
It said that two deaths in Ireland last September — that of young Waterford men Michael Coleman and Liam Coffey in Kinsale, Co Cork — were linked to a powder containing PMMA (an amphetamine derivative) and MDMA (ecstasy).
