Acute, chronic, and post-mortem toxicity: a review focused on three different classes of new psychoactive substances

Purpose: New psychoactive substances (NPS) are not controlled under the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961 or

the 1971 Convention, but they may pose a public health threat. Knowledge of the main properties and toxicological efects

of these substances is lacking. According to the current Drugs Law (Law n. 11.343/2006), the Brazilian Surveillance Agency

issues directives for forbidden substances in Brazil, and structural classes of synthetic cannabinoids, cathinones, and phenylethylamines are considered illicit drugs. Considering that data on these controlled substances are scattered, the main objective of this work was to collect and organize data to generate relevant information on the toxicological properties of NPS.

Methods: We carried out a literature review collecting information on the acute, chronic, and post-mortem toxicity of these

classes of NSP. We searched info in fve scientifc databases considering works from 2017 to 2021 and performed a statistical evaluation of the data.

Results: Results have shown a general lack of studies in this feld given that many NPS have not had their toxicity evaluated.

We observed a signifcant diference in the volume of data concerning acute and chronic/post-mortem toxicity. Moreover,

studies on the adverse efects of polydrug use are scarce.

Conclusions: More in-depth information about the main threats involving NPS use are needed.