1. A collaboration between the Drugs Wheel and The Loop

2. The Drugs Wheel model was designed in by UK DrugWatch to accommodate the many New Psychoactive Substances that didn’t fit into existing models.

3. It has seven categories, allowing all known psychoactive drugs to be grouped by their main effect.
Empathogens: make you feel warm towards others
Disassociatives: make you feel disconnected from reality without necessarily ‘tripping’
Cannabinoids: JWH-018 was the active chemical in ‘Spice’, the first of the synthetic cannibinoids to be classified (Class B).

4. The Club Drugs Wheel Outer ring
is a collaborative project with The Loop, adding a third concentric ring to the Drugs Wheel model.
Outer ring
Controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act or The Human Medicines Regulations 2012
Empathogens: make you feel warm towards others
Disassociatives: make you feel disconnected from reality without necessarily ‘tripping’
Cannabinoids: JWH-018 was the active chemical in ‘Spice’, the first of the synthetic cannibinoids to be classified (Class B).
Middle ring
Controlled under the Psychoactive Substances Act 2017
Inner ring
Legal (some controls in place)

5. A 5ft / 1.5m poster version combines the Club Drugs Wheel and the Effects Wheel, designed for display at festivals and club events.
Empathogens: make you feel warm towards others
Disassociatives: make you feel disconnected from reality without necessarily ‘tripping’
Cannabinoids: JWH-018 was the active chemical in ‘Spice’, the first of the synthetic cannibinoids to be classified (Class B).

6. Development & Licence
The Drugs Wheel by Mark Adley is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. For further licensing details visit