In the last decade, the trafficking and use of illicit drugs showed a continuous incremental trend, remaining worldwide a challenging problem for the consequences on society, health, criminality, and environment. The introduction on the market of new products and of illicit synthetic compounds represents a new challenging task for analytical chemistry, looking for rapid and accurate methods for the detection of illicit substances in seized street samples, biological fluids, and wastewater. In this context, electrochemical sensors have shown promising results as an alternative to standard chromatographic and spectroscopic methods. This review aims at highlighting the most recent progresses in the use of electrochemistry for the detection of drugs of abuse, mainly including well consolidated substances like cannabinoids, cocaine, opioids, ecstasy, and methamphetamine as well as new psychoactive molecules widely diffused at the present time. Different strategies have been described particularly consisting in the direct electrochemical oxidation of the target analyte. The implementation of tailor-made portable instruments with electrochemical detection methods constitutes an added value to improve the effectiveness of electrochemical sensors for the identification of psychoactive substances when performing large-scale sampling tests.

在过去的十年中，非法药物的贩运和使用呈持续增长的趋势，在世界范围内仍然是对社会，健康，犯罪和环境后果的具有挑战性的问题。在市场上推出新产品和非法合成化合物对分析化学来说是一项新的挑战性任务，寻求快速，准确的方法来检测缉获的街道样品，生物流体和废水中的非法物质。在这种情况下，电化学传感器作为标准色谱和光谱方法的替代品已显示出可喜的结果。这篇综述旨在重点介绍使用电化学技术检测滥用药物的最新进展，主要包括结​​合良好的物质，如大麻素，可卡因，阿片类药物，摇头丸，和甲基苯丙胺以及新的精神活性分子目前广泛传播。已经描述了不同的策略，尤其包括目标分析物的直接电化学氧化。使用电化学检测方法实现量身定制的便携式仪器的实施增加了附加价值，可提高在执行大规模采样测试时用于识别精神活性物质的电化学传感器的有效性。