With nearly 300 new psychoactive substances (NPS)
reported to the EU’s early warning system in the 2013-2015 period, the
evolution of the European market for NPS has accelerated to a speed that the
public authorities’ established response — drug control laws — has struggled to
match. Varying legal responses have been introduced in different countries,
whether: by using existing laws that focused on consumer or health protection
or medicinal products; by modifying drug laws to introduce group definitions of
substances under control; or by developing innovative new legislation.
Use of medicinal product laws — which are based on an
EU directive — was challenged in the Court of Justice of the European Union
(CJEU), which ruled in 2014 that substances are not medicinal products if they
do not have beneficial effects on human health. As a result, Eurojust and the
European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) were called
upon to consider challenges for judicial cooperation and explore creative
solutions to address the problems related to the prosecution of non-controlled
NPS.
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