Unraveling the world's newest and deadliest drugs

I have been investigating changes in the illicit drug market and how that has led to a surge in drug overdoses. “America's greatest enemy is drug abuse.'' The War on Drugs begins in the early '70s. At that time, drug overdose deaths accounted for approximately 7,000 people a year. Then that number completely explodes. How could it have only gotten so much worse after investing so much money to stop the problem? When you start looking at this data, you start to see that it's essentially a synthetic drug problem. Fentanyl is the first example, but it is essentially a subset of substances known as novel psychoactive substances. They are often fatal. “So this sample was from a 19-year-old boy in Chicago who was found dead after ingesting what appeared to be Percocet. But we found that one of these synthetic cannabinoids was several times more potent than fentanyl.” When you take that sample, are you perhaps trying to find a molecule that has never been seen before? “Yes, we create what is essentially a digital record, a chemical fingerprint. But there is an interpretation to it. To understand how these substances affect humans, we need to understand their pharmacology and their potency.” This is an information age story. There's everything from chat groups where people share different ideas, to exchanges between users and suppliers, and chemical know-how is also shared. One way to understand the magnitude of the problem is to see how easy it is to change these molecules. “This is MDMA, and they're all actually manufactured to elicit a similar response. We've seen methylone, ethilone, butylone, dimethylone, all of these. The left side of all these molecules is the same. What's really different is the right side of the molecule.” Why can't we outlaw all drugs of a particular class or type? Don't you think that would simply solve the problem? “The challenge is that there are so many examples and stories where it leads to even more powerful drugs. You go through this roller coaster where one substance comes along because another substance is slated, and then it goes away and a new substance comes along and so on. Over time, new substances emerge. So, do you want something dangerous to the power of 5 or something dangerous to the power of 100?'' Understanding science and chemistry is essential to at least know what you're dealing with in this supply. Ideally, we will be able to frame public policies that solve the problem and do not make it worse.