The ‘Guide to Ethnobotanical Plants and Herbs, Synthetic Chemicals, Compounds and Products’ available to the Irish Market has been collated and designed by the Drug Education Officer and team in the Substance Misuse Service HSE, South Tipperary. This edition is a follow on to ‘A Guide to Substance Misuse for Medical Professionals’ launched in November 2009. This Guide has been produced in response to requests from workers, users, medical professionals and academics for information on the emerging issue of legal herbal highs, plants and chemical alternatives available to buy in shops and online. Legal highs, legal alternatives and natural highs have become a world wide phenomenon in recent years both here in Ireland and on the International stage. The current concern for users, parents and professionals working with people using and misusing Psychoactive Substances is their after effects and how they can negatively impact on the body and mind. A Psychoactive Substance is a drug (any substance that changes the way a body and mind feels acts or thinks) that is not controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977-84 and is therefore legal to use and possess. Legal and high together can be misleading because the majority of the substances are regulated under the Medicines Act which makes it illegal to sell, supply or advertise them for human consumption. Hence the advertisement on some products sold legally sates not for human consumption- plant feeder. Many suppliers and manufacturers also sell products as “bath salts” or “incense”. This is a way of sellers getting around drugs laws. Psychoactive Substances are sold with some ingredients not listed, no ingredients listed at all or ingredients with any information available. The high level of danger these substances have and may cause to human health is causing concern across the country. The ingredients in products sold come from three main sources: • Ethno-botanical psychoactive plants and herbs • Chemicals – mainly used for research purposes • Compounds- which are gelling agents used to bind the products The Psychoactive plants used in legal high products are mainly benign in their own right but when certain alkaloids and extracts are procured they will provide one of four classifications of psychactivity: • Stimulant • Hallucinogenic • Depressant • Aphrodisiac Other ingredients included in products such as chemical based compounds are designed in the main to research specific elements of drug use JWH-018 is an example of this. These chemicals are cannabimimetic compounds or synthetic cannabinoids which were developed originally as potential painkilling drugs, yet are included in many Spice and smoke products. The purpose of this publish is to dispel some myths and to provide as accurate information as possible to date of this publication going to print. The aim of the guide is to facilitate detailed information on Psychoactive Substances and alternatives in Ireland. • The objective of the guide is to provide an easy access quick reference, • To include relevant up to date Psychoactive Substances facts and information. • To provide the legal status and scheduling of all legal highs available in Ireland in shops and on line. • We would like to thank and acknowledge those who reviewed the Guide at different stages of its inception; they include Dr. Des Corrigan, NACD and Brian Roberts - Garda Narcotics Unit.