Emerging Drugs: Factsheet

What are Emerging Drugs?

In recent years, many ‘new’ drugs have arrived on the market. These are often advertised as ‘legal highs’, despite the fact that in many cases they are not legal. These substances are also marketed as ‘synthetic drugs’, ‘party pills’, ‘research chemicals’, or ‘plant food’, and are often used instead of other illegal drugs. They are sometimes sold in stores or online and marketed as ‘legal’ and ‘safe’. However, many contain ingredients that are actually illegal and can be very dangerous.

Continual changes to these products make it hard to know what they contain, what the effects will be and what potential impact they make have on users in the short and long term. Current substances include:

One pill (or package) may contain a mixture of different substances. Emerging drugs are sold under a wide range of different names and the list is always growing. As of 2022 the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has identified at least 1,100 emerging drugs. Names change frequently and people who use these drugs cannot be sure about what they're getting as the packaging doesn't guarantee what's inside. 

What are the effects of Emerging Drugs?

Taking these is like a roll of the dice — they haven't been around long enough to know what the immediate risks are or what might happen in the long run to people who use them. However, it is known that a small number of people have died from using some types of new drugs.

The effects of new drugs can be immediate or long-term, as listed in the table below.

Evidence Base

This factsheet was developed following expert review by researchers at the Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use at the University of Sydney, the National Drug & Alcohol Research Centre at the University of New South Wales, and the National Drug Research Institute at Curtin University.

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