Managing Monkey Dust and Psychoactive Substances in Night-Time Economies
By Jo Cox-Brown
Across cities globally, a familiar and deeply complex challenge is re-emerging in night-time economies. The rise of synthetic psychoactive substances — often referred to in the UK as "monkey dust" — is once again placing visible pressure on street-based environments.
These substances are not new. What is new is the context in which they are appearing. Cities are navigating post-pandemic recovery, cost-of-living pressures, rising homelessness, stretched public services, and evolving drug markets.
This is not simply a policing issue. It is a systems issue. And it requires a systems response.
What are these substances?
"Monkey dust" is a street term commonly used to describe synthetic cathinones — a group of man-made stimulants chemically related to amphetamines. These drugs are often cheap, highly potent, and unpredictable in effect. Alongside these, cities are seeing increased use of:
Common effects described by frontline workers
For those experiencing these effects, the line between mental health crisis and substance-induced episode is often blurred. For responders, this creates complexity, risk and uncertainty.
Why this is re-emerging now
The resurgence of these substances is not accidental. It reflects structural conditions.
Economic Pressure and Accessibility
Synthetic drugs are often significantly cheaper than traditional substances. In times of financial strain, they become more prevalent.
Supply Chain Adaptability
Illicit markets adapt quickly. When one substance is controlled, another variant emerges.
Street-Based Vulnerability
People experiencing homelessness, trauma, or untreated mental health conditions are disproportionately affected.
Reduced Service Capacity
Cuts to addiction services, mental health provision, and outreach capacity have left gaps in early intervention.
Night-Time Visibility
At night, these issues become more visible due to fewer services being open and reduced informal guardianship.
What does not work
Before defining solutions, it is important to be clear on what consistently fails.
Enforcement-led responses alone
Heavy policing without support services displaces rather than resolves the issue.
Criminalisation of vulnerability
Fining or moving people on does not address underlying causes and often exacerbates harm.
Fragmented services
Disconnected responses between police, health, councils and charities lead to inefficiency and missed opportunities.
Expecting venues to manage street-based harm
Nightlife businesses cannot and should not be the frontline response to complex drug and mental health crises.
What works — a systems-based response
Effective management requires coordinated, multi-agency approaches grounded in public health.
Integrated Night-Time Outreach
Dedicated, visible outreach teams operating at night are essential. These should include medically trained responders, trauma-informed outreach workers, and peer support where appropriate.
Models such as Safe Bus initiatives and street triage teams have demonstrated significant reductions in A&E demand and police time.
Real-Time Data and Intelligence Sharing
Cities that respond well treat this as a live system. This includes shared dashboards between police, ambulance and councils, identification of hotspots and repeat individuals, and early warning systems for new substances. Without data, responses remain reactive.
Harm Reduction Infrastructure
Harm reduction is often politically sensitive, but evidence consistently shows it reduces deaths and long-term costs.
Workforce Training Across the Ecosystem
Everyone operating at night should understand how to respond safely and appropriately — door staff, taxi operators, police, community safety teams and local authority officers. Training should focus on de-escalation, recognising symptoms, safe referral pathways and personal safety.
Commissioned Pathways Out of Crisis
Night-time response must connect to daytime solutions. Without this, individuals return to the street the following night. This requires addiction services with capacity, mental health support, housing pathways, and case management for repeat individuals.
Case Study
Lisbon, Portugal
In Lisbon, drug policy has long been approached through a public health lens. Key features include decriminalisation of personal drug use, investment in treatment and harm reduction, mobile outreach teams operating in nightlife areas, and strong integration between health and social services.
While challenges remain, Lisbon demonstrates that treating substance use as a health issue — not solely a criminal one — leads to better long-term outcomes and reduced system pressure.
Case Study
United Kingdom — Stoke-on-Trent and Beyond
In cities such as Stoke-on-Trent, where "monkey dust" has been widely reported, responses have included targeted policing of supply chains, increased use of dispersal powers, and emergency service coordination. However, where these approaches have not been matched with sustained investment in outreach and treatment, the issue has persisted.
Conversely, cities investing in Safe Bus models, street triage teams, and multi-agency night-time strategies are seeing more stabilised outcomes.
A call for strategic leadership
Managing psychoactive substances in night-time economies is not about elimination. It is about management, mitigation and care.
Cities that succeed do three things well:
If we continue to treat the visible symptoms on our streets as isolated incidents, we will continue to fail. But if we understand them as signals of deeper system pressure and respond accordingly, cities have an opportunity to build safer, more compassionate, and ultimately more sustainable night-time economies.
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