People who use new psychoactive substances or new designer drugs are acting as guinea pigs: the long-term harmful effects of new designer drugs are largely unknown, experts stressed.
As the composition of new synthetic drugs changes quickly and new drugs are always emerging, users can never be completely sure what they are taking, Maarten Degreef, coordinator of the Belgian Early Warning System on Drugs at the Sciensano health institute, told De Standaard.
In a report on the drug 3-MMC last year, the World Health Organisation (WHO) stated that there is evidence that 3-MMC was in some cases sold as MDMA in the United States. 3-MMC (3-Methylmethcathinone) is a drug that falls under synthetic cathinone (amphetamine-like designer drugs) and has been gaining popularity across Europe for several years.
It is one of the few new drugs about which something is known already, said Degreef. "There are indications that it can cause heart problems and we also see that it makes users more aggressive."
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The WHO report also cites aggression as a short-term consequence of 3-MMC use, as well as palpitations, anxiety, hallucinations and kidney failure. The WHO especially warns of the lack of knowledge about long-term consequences.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) already warned about the health risks of synthetic cannabis in a 2021 report, partly because so little is known about it. According to the Poison Control Centre, synthetic cannabis is "much stronger than natural cannabis." In some cases, the amount of THC – the main active ingredient in cannabis – can be 30 times higher than in non-synthetic cannabis.
Unlike regular cannabis, overdosing on synthetic cannabis can result in death. As with other synthetic drugs, the long-term effects are not yet known, but short-term users may experience a very high heart rate, agitation, panic attacks, paranoia or memory problems, among others.
