Clubbers’ drugs are posing a growing problem in the UK – with new substances appearing weekly, psychiatrists warn today.
Services are facing growing pressure and in one year this decade the number of patients increased by a third, according to a new report.
The increases have been especially marked among users of mephedrone – up by 81% a year – and methamphetamine – up by 79%, the psychiatrists warn.
According to the Faculty of Addiction Psychiatry of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, there may be a million adults using these drugs.
And, on average, a new psychoactive drug appears once a week in Europe, the psychiatrists warn.
Although dubbed recreational drugs, they are causing "significant and sometimes catastrophic" harm to some people, the experts say.
They say addiction services now need to treat clubbers’ drugs as seriously as alcohol and opiate abuse.
Dr Owen Bowden-Jones, of the CNWL Club Drug Clinic, Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Our current drug services were designed to deal with the drugs and dangers of the last decade – such as heroin and crack – and while it is important that this work continues, services now need to widen their front door and adapt to address the serious harms that club drug and NPS users are experiencing.
"The challenge to the UK’s existing drug services is now to keep pace with this growing problem, while continuing to meet the demands of more established substance misuse problems associated with alcohol, heroin and crack cocaine.”
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