The abuse of New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) has emerged in an endless stream, affecting the physical and mental health of the people and the overall competitiveness of the country. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), there has been an accumulated 943 NPS reported as of April 2019. The Food and Drug Administration, Ministry of Health and Welfare (TFDA) organizes the “2019 International Conference on New Psychoactive Substances” on 10-11 July. The conference will take place at Conference Hall of Tsai Lecture Halls, National Taiwan University. Scholars and experts from United States, Japan, South Korea and Malaysia will attend this conference and exchange with local regulators, academic associations, and medical professionals to improve the NPS prevention strategies in Taiwan.

The conference presents an impressive lineup of international speakers and topics. In the international NPS trend viewpoint, Dr. B. Vicknasingam, from Universiti Sains Malaysia, will introduce the NPS global prevention strategy; Dr. Masahiko Funada from National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Japan, will introduce the harmful physical effects of NPS. About the updating prevention policy, Dr. Linda B. Cottler from University of Florida, USA, will introduce the solution to the American addiction problem; Dr. Kiyoshi Wada from Saitama Prefectural Psychiatric Hospital, Japan, Dr. Hee-Sun Chung from Chungnam University, Korea, and Dr. Yih-Ing Hser from the University of California, Los Angeles, USA will following share Japan, South Korea and USA NPS abuse prevention strategy. The local speakers will also introduce the current situation, challenges and strategies of NPS abuse in Taiwan and exchange the implement prevention policy of NPS abuse with international experts in their respective countries in this two-day conference.

The conference is expected to attract over 180 guests from health care, law enforcement, and judiciary circles. Through sharing the valuable experience, discussing the toxicity and novel treatment of NPS and exchange of best NPS practices in this conference, we try to  achieve the goal of effective control and prevention of NPS to safeguard people’s health.