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Substances taken for nonmedical reasons, usually for their mind-altering effects, are called drugs of abuse. The use of psychoactive plants as drugs of abuse has had a long tradition. Most commonly abused drugs extracted from or based on natural products are illicit substances, such as cannabis products, morphine, or cocaine but other herbal products used to produce a ‘high’ are becoming increasingly popular drugs of abuse. Unfortunately, these ‘new herbal drugs’ are falsely labeled as safe and legal. This article describes the classical herbal drugs of abuse and the emerging drugs of abuse of herbal origin in monographs. The monographs contain descriptions of the plants, their pharmacologically active compounds, and a summary of the current knowledge of their pharmacological properties.