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(NPS) and ‘new synthetic substances’ appeared in 2008 to describe a range of diverse substances that mimic the effects of various illegal substances (ecstasy, amphetamines, cocaine, cannabis, etc.). Other terms used such as designer drugs, research chemicals (RC) and legal highs respectively allude to their imitative aspect, the fact that they are artificially synthesised and their legal status. Other labels that are deliberately misleading about their true intended use are also in widespread use (see the box on page 2). The molecular structure of all these new psychoactive substances is close to that of the product they are “copying” without being identical. This circumvents the legislation, at least in the short term, because the new products are not immediately classified as narcotics as soon as they are developed. With the number of such substances continuously growing and the number of users rising across Europe (including in France), the aim of this issue of Tendances is to review what is known about the subject, notably what is available, who are the users, how these products are being taken, health consequences and questions about the relevant French legislation. Most recreational drugs were originally synthesised for medical purposes – structural modification of an existing active substance being a routine strategy in drug development. The practice of self-testing new compounds is not new either. In 1928, the Californian chemist Gordon Alles himself took the amphetamine he had synthesised to investigate its effects. In the 1970’s and 1980’s, Alexander Shulgin [1] did the same thing with hallucinogenic substances like MeO-DIPT and 2C-T-X (as well as developing a simpler way of synthesising MDMA). Emmanuel Lahaie,