The article deals with the international and national mechanisms used to place new psychoactive substances under control. The authors provide an overview of the systems in use in the United Nations and the European Union, as well as in many European and other states, to criminalize newly emerging psychoactive substances, as well as propose certain legislative changes that could be adapted in the European Union to make the procedures of criminalization more straightforward. The article also provides for an overview and analysis of legal formulations used to define new psychoactive substances in different European and other states: list approach, generic scheduling, blanket bans, regulation through the laws on consumer protection and health protection, establishing legal markets for new psychoactive substances.