Emerging drugs of abuse: clinical and legal considerations.

Over the past several decades, nontraditional drugs of abuse, including bath salts, synthetic cannabinoids, and salvia, have increased in popularity and use. Despite this fact, they remain unfamiliar to many healthcare providers. Commonly marketed as "legal highs," these substances are being used for their desired neuropsychiatric effects, taking advantage of their accessibility, low cost, variable legality, and limited detection on traditional urine drug screens. Similar to traditional drugs of abuse, these substances have varying degrees of toxicity and may lead to potentially adverse effects, ranging from benign to life threatening. This paper offers a review of three of the more widely-used emerging drugs (or classes of drugs): bath salts, synthetic cannabinoids, and salvia. For each we review its history and development, the neurochemical basis for its clinical effects, the nature and route of ingestion, the range of desired effects, potential toxicities, diagnostic and therapeutic approaches, as well as social and legal considerations. [Full text available at http://rimed.org/rimedicaljournal-2014-06.asp, free with no login].