Legal highs' - novel and emerging psychoactive drugs: a chemical overview for the toxicologist. Clinical Toxicology 50

Introduction. ‘ Legal highs ’ are psychoactive chemicals which are sold from ‘ head shops ’ , the internet and from street suppliers and may be possessed without legal restriction. An increase in the marketing of these materials has resulted in a corresponding increase in published reports of their adverse effects. However, a lack of primary literature pertaining to their chemistry, pharmacology and toxicology, makes an evaluation of their harm diffi cult. This review covers the basic chemistry of these novel psychoactive compounds and relates them to endogenous neurotransmitters and existing drugs of abuse. Methods. A survey of the internet was used to identify websites that ar