Exposure to psychoactive substances is undoubtedly a serious public health issue that should be carefully analyzed from different perspectives. Regarding the types of toxic effects inflicted by these xenobiotics, it is already known that many of the...
Drug abuse represents a significant public health problem with a growing tendency. As a way of circumventing the strict national and international control of psychoactive substances by regulatory agencies, there is a market release of new substances...
The aim of this study was to assess the associations between HIV status, SARS-CoV-2 infection, increase in use of psychoactive substances and oral ulcers among people who use psychoactive substances. This was a secondary analysis of the data of 1087...
Abusing psychoactive substances has been a popular sport in the business world since the mid-19th century. First, they were appreciated for their stimulating or tonic effects, but later with psychedelics on the scene, their importance in subculture m...
Introduction: A significant increase in psychoactive drugs use was observed in women of childbearing age and during the perinatal period worldwide. Yet, the use of illicit drugs, alcohol and tobacco during pregnancy is a serious health risk for the m...
In January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, declaring the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic in March 2020. Stringent measures decreased consumption of some drugs, moving the illicit marke...
Background and Objectives: Over the past twenty years a large number of new psychoactive substances (NPS) have entered and modified the recreational drug scene. Their intake has been associated with health-related risks, especially so for vulnerable...
17 April 2022
The emergence of new psychoactive substances has earned a great deal of attention, and several reports of acute poisoning and deaths have been issued involving, for instance, synthetic opiates. In recent years, there have been profound alterations in...
Introduction: Alcohol is the most common psychoactive substance among young people. The use of psychoactive substances gives rise to a number of health, social, moral and economic problems. The aim of the study was to characterise the symptoms report...
About one-third of adult life is spent in the workplace. The use of psychoactive substances is a major preventable cause of morbidity and mortality. The consumption of psychoactive substances during or outside working hours greatly increases the freq...
Substance misuse services need to meet the growing demand and needs of individuals using new psychoactive substances (NPS). A review of the literature identified a paucity of research regarding NPS use by these individuals and UK guidelines outline t...
23 November 2020
At the end of 2019, the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction was monitoring around 790 new psychoactive substances, more than twice the total number of controlled substances under the United Nations Conventions. These substances, w...
Background: The accurate assessment of fetal exposure to psychoactive substances provides the basis for appropriate clinical care of neonates. The objective of this study was to identify maternal socio-demographic profiles and risk factors for prenat...
14 January 2022
This study aims to determine prevalence and frequency of use of novel psychoactive substances (NPS) and to identify the factors associated with NPS use in an Italian sample of patients diagnosed with substance use disorder (SUD). Prevalence and corre...
Music festivals have emerged as venues for the consumption of recreational drugs and novel psychoactive substances. This systematic review provides the first critical evaluation and synthesis of published wastewater analyses for detecting recreationa...
The historical use of toxic chemicals to cause intentional harm has evolved from blister agents in World War I to highly lethal organophosphates and emerging families of chemicals, such as Novichok. In turn, medical or recreational substances like fe...
As new psychoactive substances (commonly known as “the third generation drugs”) have characteristics such as short-term emergence, rapid updating, and great social harmfulness, there is a large gap in the development of their detection me...
(1) Background: Since the beginning of the 21st century, the large number and wide chemical variety of new psychoactive substances (NPS) that enter the market every year has become a public health problem. Given the rapidity with which the drug marke...
One of the factors that increase the effectiveness of the pharmacotherapy used in patients abusing various types of new psychoactive substances (NPSs) is the proper functioning of the liver. However, the articles published to date on NPS hepatotoxici...
Over the last decades, new psychoactive substances (NPSs) have established a new pattern of drug synthesis and distribution. These compounds brought with them several challenges, including their analytical determination by known methodologies, the un...
The determination of illegal drugs and psychoactive substances in wastewater is increasingly being used to monitor the use of both by populations in specific areas. This article describes a method for the simultaneous determination of 78 illegal drug...
The global rise of new psychoactive substances (NPSs) poses challenges for their analysis in biological matrices due to their complex chemistries and short market lifespan. A comparative study for the simultaneous extraction, separation, and detectio...
The Internet has played a major role in the distribution of New Psychoactive Substances (NPS), and crypto markets are increasingly used for the anonymous sale of drugs, including NPS. This study explores the availability of individual NPS and vendors...
New psychoactive substances (NPSs) emerged in the 2000s as legal alternatives to illicit drugs and quickly became a huge public health threat due to their easy accessibility online, limited information, and misleading labels. Synthetic cannabinoids a...
New psychoactive substances (NPSs) are a heterogenous group of psychotropic molecules and diverted pharmaceutical drugs sold worldwide as legal substitutes for controlled drugs. The psychiatric consequences of NPS use are relatively unknown, although...
Objective: This survey aimed to explore knowledge and experience on novel psychoactive substances (NPS) of healthcare professionals (HCPs). The study also aimed to assess how HCPs would like to improve their knowledge of NPS. Methods: Seventy paper q...
11 November 2022
This study was conducted in order to evaluate prospective health care professionals’ (HCPs) awareness and attitudes regarding new psychoactive substances (NPSs) in the context of their future role in the prevention and treatment of NPS overdose...
With a rising demand of cocaine over the last years, it is likely that unregulated new psychoactive substances with similar effects such as indatraline ((1R,3S)-3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-N-methyl-2,3-dihydro-1H-inden-1-amine) and troparil (Methyl (1R,2S...
New/novel psychoactive substances (NPS) are defined as new narcotic/psychotropic drugs which are not controlled by the United Nations’ 1961 Narcotic Drugs/1971 Psychotropic Substances conventions, but which may pose a public health threat [...]
6 March 2023
Background: Drug checking is a proven harm reduction strategy and provides real-time information on the market of new psychoactive substances (NPS). It combines chemical analysis of samples with direct engagement with people who use drugs (PWUD), giv...
Recently, a range of prescription and over-the-counter drugs have been reportedly used as Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS), due to their potential for abuse resulting from their high dosage/idiosyncratic methods of self-administration. This paper...
Numerous individuals suffer from mental health issues including depression and anxiety, resulting in substantial societal burden. Data suggests individuals are choosing to self-medicate with Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS); however, this phenomen...
An ever-increasing need exists within the forensic laboratories to develop analytical processes for the qualitative and quantitative determination of a broad spectrum of new psychoactive substances. Phenylethylamine derivatives are among the major cl...
Background and Objectives: PolDrugs is the largest Polish naturalistic nationwide survey to present basic demographic and epidemiological data that could potentially prevent harm from illicit substances intake in drugs users. The most recent results...
Novel psychoactive substances (NPSs) are compounds plotted to modify the chemical structures of prohibited substances, offering alternatives for consumption and evading legislation. The prompt emergence of these substances presents challenges in heal...
Background/Objectives: This study evaluates the applicability of a comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography−flame ionisation detection (GC×GC−FID) approach for the simultaneous determination of 12 underivatised psychoactive...
7 April 2022
Legal highs are new psychoactive substances (NPSs) which pose a high risk for human health, and the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has changed peoples’ behaviours, including the demand for NPS. The aim of the study was to assess both the fre...
Predictors of mortality in illicit drug users involving Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS) and multiple substances have not been elucidated. We aimed to define predictors of mortality in the NPS endemic era’s illicit drug users to strengthen p...
The use of the new psychoactive substances is continuously growing and the implementation of accurate and sensible analysis in biological matrices of users is relevant and fundamental for clinical and forensic purposes. Two different analytical techn...
Novel psychoactive substances (NPS) represent a severe health risk for drug users. Even though the phenomenon has been growing since the early 2000s, the mechanisms of action of NPS at the receptors and beyond them are still scarcely understood. The...
The increasing number of new psychoactive substances (NPS) entering the illicit drug market, especially synthetic cathinones, as well as the risk of cardiovascular complications, is intensifying the need to quickly assess their cardiotoxic potential....
Background/Objectives: The homeless population (HP) is a heterogeneous group characterized by the absence of stable and conventional housing, often relying on public spaces and deteriorated environments for shelter and survival, either temporarily or...
Background: Psychosis is defined as a series of symptoms that impair the mind and lead to a kind of loss of reference to reality. Development of psychosis is usually preceded by the appearance of prodromal symptoms. Numerous attempts have been made t...
The proliferation of new psychoactive substances (NPSs) in recent years has posed a significant challenge to public health. Traditional monitoring methods have proven insufficient in tracking these constantly evolving substances, leading to the devel...
Screening of illicit drugs for new psychoactive substances—namely cathinone—at crime scenes is in high demand. A dual-emission bovine serum albumin-stabilized gold nanoclusters probe was synthesized and used for quantitation and screening...
(1) Background: Numerous studies state that the abuse of psychoactive substances produces cognitive, emotional and behavioral disorders. The aim of this study is to analyze the relationship between the consumption of different psychoactive substances...
Over the past decade, more than a thousand new psychoactive substances (NPSs) have emerged worldwide. This rapid proliferation of “designer drugs” poses significant challenges for drug control, forensic analysis, and public health. Artifi...
Background: Correctional officers’ life expectancy in the U.S. is 59 years, compared to the population average of 75 years. Correctional officers have higher suicide rates than others and carry a higher risk for substance use. This study examin...
The aim of this study was to identify the sociodemographic factors associated with emotional distress and determine if the quality of family relationships and the perception of social isolation can protect those who transacted sex or used psychoactiv...
Currently, more than 1000 molecules have been classified as New Psychoactive Substances (NPSs), and it is reported that, every year, this number increases with new classes of compounds and/or newer generations of NPS families [...]
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