New psychoactive substances
| Author | Laura Adams |
| Published date | 01 June 2018 |
| Date | 01 June 2018 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0264550518771457 |
| Subject Matter | Research & reports |
Research & reports
The Journal of Community and Criminal Justice
Probation Journal
Research & reports
2018, Vol. 65(2) 219–222
ª The Author(s) 2018
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DOI: 10.1177/0264550518771457
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New psychoactive substances: A thematic
inspection report
On 26 May 2016, The Psychoactive Act 2016 came into effect. This made producing,
supplying and importing New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) into the United Kingdom
a criminal offence. Given the recent changes in legislation, the drug and producers
have gone underground. This inspection was carried out to measure probation prac-
tice in response to the growing concerns, with the aim to improve provisions.
NPS, namely Spice, is found to be the synthetic drug of choice with the most
vulnerable members of society, those being imprisoned or street homeless. Emer-
ging out of the prisons, the drug is entering into probation approved premises due to
the lack of accurate drug testing facilities. Reports have found that some offenders
are using this drug because it is inexpensive and readily available. Or, it is being
substituted for Class A drug misuse, such as heroin and cocaine. It is estimated that,
in 2016–17, 147,000 people aged between 16 and 59 had used NPS.
The inspection highlighted that the assessments carried out by substance misuse
agencies were overall sufficient; however, not all of the agencies inspected shared
key information with the probation services. The probation assessments were
identified to lack adequate analysis within risk assessments relating to NPS misuse.
Prisons often witnessed NPS misuse for first-time users and subsequent addiction
development because of the NPS use. Of further concern was that prisons often
failed to share information regarding this.
Without key knowledge it was found that probation assessments failed to identify
patterns of NPS misuse and analysis to detail comprehensive safety planning for
public protection....
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