What are emerging drugs?
The Commonwealth Department of Health, Disability and Ageing defines emerging drugs as new psychoactive drugs appearing on the market. They include novel drug classes which are potentially harmful. They also include new formulations of older drug classes for which problems related to their use are emerging. The situation is rapidly changing. There are hundreds of emerging drugs of concern, and this number is increasing every year.
The importance of responding to emerging drugs
The rapid emergence of new psychoactive substances (NPS) and drug market changes associated with other well-known substances is a key public health challenge in both Australia and internationally.
Without a well-coordinated drug prompt response system there can be delays in detecting and responding to health problems related to emerging substances, compounded by uncoordinated responses, media misrepresentation and stigmatisation. These can contribute to disparity in access to information and hamper effective public health intervention.
Recent clusters of drug toxicity in Australia have highlighted this capability gap, making the development of a PRN an urgent priority in this country.
The PRN's objectives
The PRN coordinates participants to share information and knowledge for timely public health responses that reduce the harmful effects of emerging drugs. The network includes government departments, clinicians, consumers, harm reduction service providers, academics and other key stakeholders across Australia’s states and territories.
The objectives of the project are to:
establish a national network of new and existing organisations and networks that enables flexible participation and information exchange
develop communication and response protocols that define outcomes and actions for topics of interest
identify and disseminate the information and knowledge needed to support timely health response and decision making through a program of activities and supporting technology.
The PRN is more than an early warning system, which disseminates information to key stakeholders and the public. The PRN is a collaborated effort to empower consumers and communities and ultimately reduce the risk of events related to emerging substances.
How does the PRN work?
We developed the components of the PRN through a co-design and mapping process with key stakeholders involved in delivering public health drug alerts in Australia. Through this process we were able to identify opportunities to support existing and emerging networks without duplicating their activities.
There are three streams of work to support the network:
A national community network
We support a broad community of people who are involved with regional and national networks to share information, insights, and opportunities. This community is enabled through an online community platform and regular stakeholder update meetings.
National Signal Register
The National Signal Register is a digital platform built to provide a national dashboard of incidents using de-identified data from contributing jurisdictional agencies (e.g., local health, toxicological and police agencies).
Published Research
From environmental disasters to emerging drugs; a framework to understand, map and assess drug-related early warning systems
This paper draws on the environmental early warning systems literature to propose a framework for understanding the activities of drug-related early warning systems (those designed to detect, mitigate, and respond to emerging concerns such as overdose clusters or adulterated supply). It also highlights the importance of involving people who use drugs in their operation.
Read the paper here
Co-design of the Australian Prompt Response Network for a public-health focused intersectoral approach to information sharing on emerging drugs of concern
This paper documents the co-design process facilitated by NCCRED to produce the Prompt Response Network, in response to emerging drug threats.
Read the paper here
Responding to reports of nitazene toxicity in Australia
This paper discusses detections of nitazenes in Australia, drug alerts featuring nitazenes, and strategies to respond to nitazenes.
Read the paper here
Published Reports
Emerging Best Practices in the Design and Dissemination of Public Drug Warnings
The purpose of this report is to outline emerging evidence on developing and issuing drug warnings to inform the practices of organisations that issue them across Australia.
Read the report here
Drug Alert Report (Q2 2025)
This report provides an overview of drug alerts issued in Australian jurisdictions from 01 January 2025 to 31 March 2025.
Read the report here
Drug Alert Report (Q1 2025)
This report provides an overview of drug alerts issued in Australian jurisdictions from 01 January 2025 to 31 March 2025.
Read the report here
Drug Alert Report (2024)
This report provides an overview of drug alerts issued in Australian jurisdictions from in 2024.
Read the report here