Officially launched by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken through a virtual Ministerial on July 7, 2023, the Global Coalition to Address Synthetic Drug Threats is a U.S.-led international effort to combat the threats posed by the presence of synthetic drugs. Globally, synthetic drug threats are on the rise. Traffickers are expanding shipment routes, manufacturers are getting more creative in finding the ingredients and equipment to make synthetic drugs, criminal groups are taking advantage of weak spots in data collection and, all around the world, public health suffers due to synthetic drug use. The Secretary’s Global Coalition to Address Synthetic Drug Threats confronts these challenges. The Coalition is intended to produce action and results in a short period of time, speeding up the global response to the rise in synthetic drugs threats. The Coalition convenes through Working Group and Sub-Working Group meetings on a monthly basis. To ensure meetings are accessible across the world and breadth of languages, meetings are held in East Sessions and West Sessions and offer interpretation in English, Arabic, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.

Synthetic Drugs pose a growing security and public health challenge. Illicitly manufactured synthetic drugs such as fentanyl, tramadol, cathinones, synthetic cannabinoids, methamphetamine, captagon, MDMA, are often more potent – and more lethal – than plant-based drugs like cocaine or heroin. They can be made anywhere with widely available chemicals and equipment and shipped in small quantities undetected for high profits. Synthetic drugs threaten all regions of the world and call for a global coalition to respond.

For additional detail and questions, please reach out to SyntheticsCoalition [at] state [dot] gov (SyntheticsCoalition[at]state[dot]gov)