Novel Psychoactive Substances

In light of the recent emergence of Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS) on a global scale, this book provides a timely analysis of the social and economic impact of the NPS phenomenon, and of the global policy and regulatory responses to it. It presents the first comprehensive overview of the international regulation, policy and market structure of the NPS phenomenon, offering a guide to inform legislative discussions and demonstrating from a comparative perspective the different approaches used to address the rise of NPS to date. It covers topics such as organized crime, drug markets, clinical evidence on NPS, and different regulatory approaches also in less explored settings such as prisons and sport environments.

Overall, this highly informative and well-structured repository of different experiences with NPS policy, law and regulation offers an essential primary source of evidence for anyone interested in the area of drug and NPS policy, health economics and p

• Cyber Crime
• Drug Policy
• Drug Trafficking
• Illicit Drug Market
• New Psychoactive Substances
• NPS Policy
• Public Health
• Substance Abuse Research

• School of Life and Medical Sciences, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, United Kingdom

  Ornella Corazza

• Institute of Public Health, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

  Andres Roman-Urrestarazu

Dr. Ornella Corazza is a Reader in Substance Addictions and Behaviours at University of Hertfordshire and leading expert in the field of Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS). She has published numerous papers in the field and her work has been recognized and prized internationally, including with the 2013 European Health Award. She has previously held Fellowships at the University of Padua (Italy), University of Bochum (Germany), University of London (SOAS; King’s College) and at the Centre of Excellence on Death and Life Studies at the University of Tokyo (Japan). She is also a Visiting Professor at Sapienza University of Rome. As a consequence of working internationally in different academic environments, she has developed a unique specialism in the combined fields of health, culture and legislation. In total, Dr Corazza is author of over 200 journal articles, book chapters and conference papers. They cover the main classes of NPS as well new methods for the rapid identification of novel drug trends, prevention and policy recommendations.

Dr Andres Roman-Urrestarazu combined expertise in psychiatry, mental health and health economics allowed him to make original contributions in the fields of substance abuse where he has developed a growing body of research in the field of NPS Policy. He is Assistant Professor at Maastricht University Department of International Health and concurrently holds the Gilling’s Fellowship in Global Public Health at the Institute of Public Health (IPH), University of Cambridge and the Institut Louis Pasteur (ILP) Paris. He currently co-supervises PhD students at the IPH in Cambridge and Maastricht University Department of International Health where he leads a project that studies the association between austerity, macroeconomic indicators and substance misuse. Concurrently with this policy agenda, his clinical work and research is based in the Autism Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge where he works on neurodevelopment disorders and more specifically ASD, disability, inequality and social policy. He has previously held appointments as Research Officer in Health Economics and Health Policy at LSE Health, London School of Economics and Political Science working extensively in the Middle East on behavioural risk factors for metabolic disease in collaboration with WHO, GIZ/GTZ and ILO among others, while also developing a teaching career in Trinity Hall, Cambridge where he was Director of Studies in Psychology and Behavioral Science. He has also worked in different government roles around the world having worked as Technical Lead at the Centre for Health Technology Evaluation (CHTE) in the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and also as Medical Advisory Staff at the Ministry of Health Chile - MINSAL. He has published several papers in relation to NPS while also submitting evidence to the House of Commons for the 2016 UK PSA. In that occasion, he assisted the discussion around NPS with a comparative policy analysis, while also managing the engagement with the press for the dissemination of this evidence. His latest book, in co-authorship with Dr Ornella Corazza, discusses different global policy options for NPS having collaborated for this work with different international organisations such as the European Commission, UNODC, DEA, WADA, LSE Ideas, and various leading academics in the field of drug policy. Dr Andres Roman-Urrestarazu specialises in Psychiatry (MD  and BM in Medicine, University of Santiago de Chile; PhD Psychiatry, University of Cambridge), Health Economics and Policy (MSc London School of Economics).

Policies and ethics