Dr. Ruxandra Manea, a specialist in laboratory medicine at the "Sfântul Stelian" Center for Assessment and Treatment of Substance Abuse in Bucharest, says that frequently, in the case of samples taken from consumers, she observes the presence of multiple substances - drug cocktails.

Also increasingly common in consumption is fentanyl, a synthetic opioid analgesic used as a general anesthetic and in the treatment of chronic and severe pain, released only by special prescription for narcotic substances, but used illicitly as a drug.

"26 - 27 substances, drugs and their metabolites were in the system. This is the quantitative analyzer we work with, it is liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry and can test up to 108 substances, drugs that our patients can consume. These substances are tested in urine and we interpret them to see quantitatively exactly how much of each substance they consumed. Whether they consumed more in the past, we can see traces in urine, or if they consumed small amounts of multiple combinations, as they say, cocktails", said Dr. Ruxandra Manea, a specialist in laboratory medicine at the "Sfântul Stelian" Hospital, for news.ro.

Regarding the substances from the most common types of cocktails, she listed: "I could say benzodiazepines, with gabapentin which is a potentiator, morphine, methadone, as our patients are treated with methadone here. We also found cases with fentanyl. Zopiclone, as they say, legal drugs".

Dr. Laura Aelenei, a psychiatrist, section chief at the "Sfântul Stelian" Hospital, explained that the age of onset of consumption has decreased.

In the healthcare unit, only young people and adults are treated, not children, but young people most often say they started using drugs from a young age.

New psychoactive substances are becoming more and more common, the doctor showed, mentioning, like the specialists from the hospital laboratory, that the consumption of fentanyl has also increased.

Doctors at the "Sfântul Stelian" Hospital take care of consumers who come to the hospital in various conditions: from withdrawal to milder intoxication states, but with severe symptoms, such as psychotic episodes.

When they consume new psychoactive substances, doctors notice in the analyzed samples many components, each with its own effect.

What are the most consumed drugs in Romania

"The most frequently consumed is cannabis, then stimulant substances follow, amphetamines, cocaine, ecstasy, then we can think of methamphetamines and the new psychoactive substances which have also increased significantly in the population, there are also opioids, we deal with them through subsequent substitution treatment, and then mixtures. We have noticed the increase in fentanyl consumption because we test it specifically and we have observed this, indeed, recently", Dr. Laura Aelenei reported.

According to the doctor, sometimes things are not very clearly defined, in the sense that patients come in who test positive for several substances, this happens very frequently: "We have observed this because, in addition to the usual tests, we have a more specific analyzer that doses up to approximately 100 substances".

"Most of the time when they consume new psychoactive substances we find many components, which each have other effects. New psychoactive substances are also from several categories. They can have hallucinogenic effects, there are cathinones, synthetic cannabinoids, hallucinogens, all have specific effects. The individual must be considered as a whole, the overall aspect and seen as symptomatic and what needs to be done at that moment. Fentanyl is the opioid of choice. Opioids usually cause sedation, up to respiratory failure and coma", explained Dr. Aelenei.