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Fentanyl and related psychoactive substances are at the forefront of the opioid overdose crisis, for which a complete solution is not immediately obvious. Drug testing for harm reduction may be an effective approach to both reduce overdoses and importantly, engage people who use drugs (PWUD) with the medical system. Paper spray mass spectrometry (PS-MS) is an ambient ionization strategy that is uniquely suited to address this complicated analytical task. This perspectives article presents the merits of PS-MS, with a focus upon the current state of its use as a candidate drug checking strategy for harm reduction. PS-MS is inherently sensitive and selective, with detection limits in the picogram range. It requires small drug samples (~1 mg) for quantitative drug testing, critical to encourage pre-consumption measurements by PWUD in the context of a harm reduction strategy. Calibrations obtained in surrogate drug matrices containing highly concentrated primary drugs demonstrate comparable sensitivities, a wide calibration range, and minimal matrix effects. PS-MS can be interfaced with high-resolution MS for non-targeted analysis, allowing the identification of novel psychoactive substances as they appear in street drugs. Individual quantitative PS-MS measurements for drug testing can be done in 1 minute or less, resulting in high sample throughput. Significant advancement in mass spectrometer miniaturization and mobilization has concomitant benefits for direct, on-site drug checking, such as reduced cost, simplified maintenance and ease of use by less skilled operators. While PS-MS technology continues to rapidly advance, it is our opinion that PS-MS can be utilized as an effective tool for harm reduction in the opioid overdose crisis.

Clandestine heroin laboratories have been a feature of the Malaysian illicit drug scene since soon after the abuse of heroin emerged in 1972. The first few clandestine heroin laboratories which synthesised heroin via the acetylation of imported morphine were uncovered in 1973 and 1977. By the mid-1980s, this type of laboratory was replaced by heroin-cutting laboratories whereby imported high-grade heroin was cut to street heroin. This was to meet the rising demand for the drug owing to the rapid escalation of the number of drug users. Over the years, the most significant change in the composition of the street heroin is the decrease in its purity from 30%-50% to 3%-5%. Caffeine has remained the major adulterant and chloroquine is detected in virtually all recent seizures.

Methamphetamine (MA) tablet production confers chemical and physical properties. This study developed a simple and effective physical characteristic profiling method for MA tablets with capital letter "WY" logos, which realized the discrimination between linked and unlinked seizures. Seventeen signature distances extracted from the "WY" logo were explored as factors for multivariate analysis and demonstrated to be effective to represent the features of tablets in the drug intelligence perspective. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to evaluate efficiency of different pretreatments and distance/correlation metrics, while "Standardization + Euclidean" and "Logarithm + Euclidean" algorithms outperformed the rest. Finally, hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) was applied to the data set of 200 MA tablet seizures randomly selected from cases all around China in 2015, and 76% of them were classified into a group named after "WY-001." Moreover, the "WY-001" tablets occupied 51-80% tablet seizures from 2011 to 2015 in China, indicating the existence of a huge clandestine factory incessantly manufacturing MA tablets.

The current practice in securing the contact traces of chemical substances taken from clothes belonging to a person suspected of manual handling explosives is focused on pockets and cuffs. The outerwear worn by people who had contact with fluorescent powders that simulate explosives and drugs was the subject of this study. Clothes were first exposed to the test substance for a period of time and then analyzed by fluorescence methods to determine the location of the highest quantity of traces. The results obtained from the study confirm that the areas with the highest concentration of powdery traces are different from those suggested by current forensic practice. They appear to be promising for a more efficient identification of the suspects involved in illegal manufacturing of drugs of abuse or explosives. Moreover, they may be helpful for developing the methodology for handling the evidence material in the forensic clothing examination process.

Objectives To examine the causal beliefs about schizophrenia of non-psychiatric doctors and whether differential belief in biogenetic vs. psychosocial causes influences doctors' views about treatments and prognosis. Design and methods Three hundred and five non-psychiatric doctors working in outpatient community centres completed the 'Opinions on mental disorders Questionnaire' after reading a clinical description of people with schizophrenia. Results The factors most frequently reported as causes of schizophrenia were heredity (65.2%) and use of street drugs (54.1%). Seventy-five per cent of participants endorsed both one or more biological causal factors and one or more psychosocial causal factors. Of the 264 participants who expressed their opinion about the most important cause of schizophrenia, 53.8% indicated a biogenetic cause. Fifty-two per cent of respondents thought it 'completely true' that drugs are useful in schizophrenia, and 33.9% thought it 'completely true' that people with schizophrenia must take drugs all their life. Participants stating that the most important cause was biogenetic more frequently recommended a psychiatrist and less frequently a psychologist. Compared to doctors who indicated a psychosocial cause as the most important one, those who indicated a biogenetic cause were more sceptical about recovery, more confident in the usefulness of drugs, and more convinced of the need of lifelong pharmacological treatments in schizophrenia. Conclusions These findings suggest the need to provide some doctors with training on the multiple, interacting causes of schizophrenia and the efficacy of the broad range of available treatments. The education of health professionals regarding stigma and its effects on clinical practice is also needed. Practitioner points Viewing schizophrenia as mainly due to a biological cause is associated with greater confidence in the usefulness of drugs, higher belief in the need for lifelong pharmacological treatments, and greater prognostic pessimism. Belief in a biologically oriented model of schizophrenia may lead doctors to underestimate the value of psychologists. Prognostic pessimism among doctors may negatively influence clinical decisions, the information doctors provide to their clients, and clients' own beliefs about their chances of recovery. Belief in the need for lifelong pharmacological treatments in schizophrenia may lead doctors to resist drug withdrawal in case of severe side effects.

During the last decade, a substantial growth in new psychoactive substances (NPS) has been recorded. Within this group, a considerably fast-growing sub-group is represented by the opioids, which are based on modifications of the fentanyl structure. In this study, identification and analytical characterization of a new fentanyl derivative, 4-fluorobutyrfentanyl (1-((4-fluorophenyl)(1-phenethylpiperidin-4-yl)amino)butan-1-one, 4-FBF), is described. Apart from the seized powder, 4-FBF was also identified in the e-cigarette liquid secured in Case 1. The concentration of the compound in the liquid was 35 mg/mL. The main component of the liquid was glycerol, and nicotine was also present. This substance was detected in seized material that originated from the illegal drug market in Poland. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this report presents the first two analytically confirmed cases of fatal intoxication associated with 4-FBF. Case 1 was a 26-year-old male drug user who was found dead at home. Case 2 was a 25-year-old female, occasional user of NPS and drugs, who was also found dead at home. The concentrations of 4-FBF in blood were 91 and 112 ng/mL and in urine 200 and 414 ng/mL. The concentrations of 4-FBF in liver and kidney were 902 and 411 ng/g, and 136 and 197 ng/g, for Case 1 and Case 2, respectively. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The data collected in this study describe an initial attempt to systematically introduce the qualitative and quantitative analysis of adulterants present in seized street drugs in Italy with the aim of improving surveillance and data sharing and for this purpose, the implementation of validated and standardized procedures are essential.

As states increasingly liberalize marijuana laws, high-quality research is needed that will inform the public and policymakers about the health and societal impact of these laws. However, there are many challenges to studying marijuana policy, including the heterogeneity of the drug and its use, the variability in the laws and their implementation from state to state, the need to capture a wide variety of relevant outcomes, and the poorly understood influence of marijuana commercialization. Furthermore, current instruments generally fail to distinguish between types of users and lack accurate and detailed measures of use. This review provides a background on marijuana laws in the United States and an overview of existing policy research, discusses methodological considerations when planning analysis of state marijuana laws, and highlights specific topics needing further development and investigation.

Herbal smoking blends containing synthetic cannabinoids have become popular alternatives to marijuana. These products were previously sold in pre-packaged foil bags, but nowadays seizures usually contain synthetic cannabinoid powders together with unprepared plant materials. A question often raised by the Swedish police is how much smoking blend can be prepared from certain amounts of banned substance, in order to establish the severity of the crime. To address this question, information about the synthetic cannabinoid content in both the powder and the prepared herbal blends is necessary. In this work, an extraction procedure compatible with direct NMR quantification of synthetic cannabinoids in herbal smoking blends was developed. Extraction media, time and efficiency were tested for different carrier materials containing representative synthetic cannabinoids. The developed protocol utilizes a 30 min extraction step in d4 -methanol in presence of internal standard allowing direct quantitation of the extract using NMR. The accuracy of the developed method was tested using in-house prepared herbal smoking blends. The results showed deviations less than 0.2% from the actual content, proving that the method is sufficiently accurate for these quantifications. Using this method, ten synthetic cannabinoids present in sixty-three different herbal blends seized by the Swedish police between October 2012 and April 2015 were quantified. Obtained results showed a variation in cannabinoid contents from 1.5% (w/w) for mixtures containing MDMB-CHMICA to over 5% (w/w) for mixtures containing 5F-AKB-48. This is important information for forensic experts when making theoretical calculations of production quantities in legal cases regarding "home-made" herbal smoking blends. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A validated ultra-high-performance liquid chromatographic (UHPLC) method was used to determine the phenazepam dosage in clandestinely produced Erimin 5 tablets. Tablets from five different seizures submitted to the laboratory in 2013 were found to have a dosage of about 2.4 milligrams. The measurement uncertainty of the assay was estimated to be 3.2 % (relative) at a coverage factor of k=2. As an adjunct study the dyes in the tablets from several seizures were determined by thin-layer chromatography (TLC) for future comparative studies.

Third-hand smoke is the residue remaining on surfaces during smoking events. It is composed of particles and vapours that form upon heating. The phrase 'third-hand smoke' is primarily used to describe nicotine and other chemicals from cigarettes, but any residues formed from the smoking of various substances could be classified similarly. There has been an increasing body of research on third-hand smoke from cigarettes in the last decade, but little has been done in regards to understanding the persistence of particles and vapours from illicit drugs. In this work, small samples of cocaine and methamphetamine were volatilized to produce an illicit drug smoke that was collected onto various surface materials and left exposed to ambient conditions over 672 h (four weeks). Chemical analyses by electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry of residues on silicon, plastic, laminate, and artificial leather surfaces indicated a rapid decrease in recovery of the parent molecule, with varied formation of decomposition products over the first 168 h of exposure. Measurable amounts of the parent molecule were still present after 672 h, exhibiting a strong persistence of these drugs on various household materials. This is important in a forensic science context, as third-hand smoke residues could provide a viable source of trace evidence previously not utilized. Published 2016. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

Since the first appearance as psychotropic drugs in illegal markets in 2008, the spread of synthetic cannabinoids is becoming a serious problem in many countries. This paper reports on the analytical properties and structure elucidation of four cannabimimetic derivatives in seized material: 1-benzyl-N-(1-carbamoyl-2,2-dimethylpropan-1-yl)-1H-indole-3-carboxamide (ADB-BICA, 1), N-(1-carbamoylpropan-1-yl)-1-(5-fluoropentyl)-1H-pyrrolo[2,3-b]pyridine-3-carboxamide (NNL-1, 2), (4-benzylpiperazin-1-yl)(1-(5-fluoropentyl)-1H-indol-3-yl)methanone (NNL-2, 3), and N-(1-carbamoyl-2-phenylethyl)-1-(5-fluoropentyl)-1H-indazole-3-carboxamide (PPA(N)-2201, 4). The identifications were based on liquid chromatography-quadrupole-time-of-flight-mass spectrometry (LC-QTOF-MS), gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. No chemical or pharmacological data about compounds 1-3 have appeared until now, making this the first report on these compounds. The GC-MS data of 4 has been reported, but this study added the LC-MS, FT-IR, and NMR data for additional characterization. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Introduction and Aims Responding to possession of illicit substances on the premises of drug treatment services is a complex issue. Providers are challenged by balancing duty-of-care and staff safety while attempting to provide a therapeutic environment. This study assessed the current policy and practice of non-government drug treatment services in New South Wales, Australia in responding to possession of illicit substances on their premises. Design and Methods Non-government drug treatment services were invited to participate in a survey that aimed to elicit information about existing policy and practices and how often it occurred. Analysis explored the differences between services that had a written policy and those that did not against service setting, accreditation status, reporting of an illicit drug possession in the last 12 months and having a sharps disposal unit. Results Fifty-one responses were included in the analysis, 29 (57%) of which reported having a policy and/or procedure. There was no statistically discernible difference between inpatient and outpatient settings, accreditation status of services or availability of a sharps disposal unit on the premises. However, services that reported a possession incident in the previous 12 months were more likely to report having a written policy than those that did not (37% vs. 12%; odds ratio: 4.75, 95% confidence interval 1.32–17.11, P = 0.014). Discussion and Conclusions. The policy and practice in these settings vary greatly, with many services reporting no documented policy to guide staff. The findings suggest the need to develop organisational policy to support service providers in responding to possession of illicit substances on premises. [Stirling R, Day C. The policy and practices of New South Wales drug treatment providers in responding to the possession of illicit substances on premises. Drug Alcohol Rev 2016;00:000-000]

Hygrine (HYG) and cuscohygrine (CUS) are natural alkaloids of coca leaves but are not found in illicit cocaine seizures. Therefore, they were proposed as markers for coca chewing in contrast to cocaine abuse in urine and hair testing. In order to examine at which step of the illegal cocaine production these compounds are lost, coca leaves were processed according to an authentic procedure by extraction with lime and kerosene, re-extraction with sulphuric acid, and precipitation of coca paste with ammonia. Non-extracted and extracted coca leaves, acidic extract and coca paste were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) for cocaine, ecgonine methyl ester (EME), cinnamoylcocaine (CIN), HYG, and CUS. It follows from the results that under these conditions, HYG and CUS are extracted only to a minor extent by kerosene and are not precipitated from the acidic re-extract in the coca paste. Due to this behaviour in illegal cocaine production, they fulfil the conditions as markers for coca chewing in an optimal way. However, for unambiguous discrimination between coca chewing and cocaine abuse in human samples, additional markers of manufactured cocaine are required. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

1-Phenyl-2-propanone (P2P) is an internationally monitored precursor that has become increasingly difficult for illicit amphetamine producers to source, which means that alternative routes to its preparation have become increasingly important. One such approach includes the hydrolysis of alpha-phenylacetoacetonitrile (APAAN) with sulfuric acid. Previously, we reported the identification of 4,6-dimethyl-3,5-diphenylpryid-2-one following implementation of hydrolysis conditions and it was proposed that this compound might serve as one route specific by-product in the APAAN to P2P conversion. This study continued to explore the presence of impurities formed during this conversion and expanded also into a second route of P2P synthesis starting from alpha-methylstyrene (AMS). All P2P products underwent the Leuckart procedure to probe the presence of P2P-related impurities that might have carried through to the final product. Two by-products associated with the APAAN hydrolysis route to P2P were identified as 2,3-diacetyl-2,3-diphenylsuccinonitrile (1) and 2-methyl-1-phenyl-1,3-dicarbonitrile-1H-indene (2), respectively. Two by-products associated with the AMS route to P2P and subsequent Leuckart reaction were 1,1,3-trimethyl-3-phenyl-2,3-dihydro-1H-indene (3) and 1-phenyl-N-(phenylethyl)propan-2-amine (4), respectively. The two indenes (2 and 3) identified in synthesized amphetamine originating from P2P suggested that it might be possible to differentiate between the two synthetic routes regarding the use of APAAN and AMS. Furthermore, the association of these compounds with amphetamine production appears to have been reported for the first time. The presence of compounds 1 - 4 in seized amphetamine samples and waste products could facilitate the suggestion whether APAAN or AMS were employed in the synthesis route to the P2P. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Introduction and Aims The current study documents the characteristics associated with the use of two novel psychoactive substances: synthetic cannabinoids and synthetic cathinones.

Background and Objectives To determine illicit drug use among new patients in primary medical care who denied using “street drugs” during Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT). Methods 96 new patients who denied use of “street drugs” were tested for drugs as part of routine SBIRT screening. Results Of those tested, 14.6% of those with urine specimens and 4.1% of those with saliva specimens tested positive for illicit drugs. Discussion and Conclusions Drug toxicology can detect unreported illicit drug use during SBIRT screening, with urine being superior to saliva. Scientific Significance Drug toxicology can increase the effectiveness of SBIRT screening in primary care medical clinics. (Am J Addict 2015;24:396 –399)

MotherSafe is a state-wide service operating in New South Wales, Australia. MotherSafe offers counselling services for pregnant or breastfeeding mothers regarding the potential effects of exposure to medications, radiation, possible environmental hazards, street drugs or household products, as well as the effects of occupation upon pregnancy and breastfeeding outcomes. Consumers call MotherSafe to check advice having been given by healthcare professionals, only to find that the advice has been unnecessarily alarming to the woman, and in many cases it is incorrect purely because the advice that has been provided is based upon a construct that has considered the pregnancy categorisation of the drug as an absolute fact, or upon an assumption that information relevant to pregnancy is also applicable to breastfeeding as well. Outlined here are a series of issues that should be considered in the provision of advice on these issues as they relate to pregnancy and breastfeeding, as well as a summary of the resources available to inform evidence-based advice.

Mephedrone (4-methylmethcathinone) has been found in several over-the-counter products that are abused by humans, but very little is known about its behavioral effects and abuse liability. The present study examined the effects of mephedrone (1-10 mg/kg) on learning in female rats, as well as its interaction with the ovarian hormone estradiol. More specifically, female rats were trained to respond under a multiple schedule of repeated acquisition and performance of response sequences and then ovariectomized. Following ovariectomy, mephedrone dose-effect curves were obtained during periods of 17β-estradiol administration and periods without estradiol administration. Unlike mephedrone, which was administered acutely (i.p.) before the experimental sessions, 17β-estradiol was administered via subcutaneous Silastic capsules containing 25% 17β-estradiol and 75% cholesterol. In general, mephedrone produced dose-dependent rate-decreasing and error-increasing effects in the acquisition and performance components of the schedule in all subjects. However, when estradiol was present, three of the four rats were more sensitive to the rate-decreasing effects of mephedrone, and all of the subjects were more sensitive to its error-increasing effects. These data indicate that estradiol can potentiate the disruptive effects of mephedrone on both the acquisition and performance of complex behavior in female rats.

Ce manuscrit est une pre-publication d'un article paru dans Addiction 2012; 107(7): 1318-1327 url: http://www.addictionjournal.org/

Aims To examine the literature pertaining to the diversion and misuse of pharmaceutical stimulants. Methods Relevant literature was identified through comprehensive MEDLINE, EMBASE and PubMed searches. Results The evidence to date suggests that the prevalence of diversion and misuse of pharmaceutical stimulants varies across adolescent and young adult student populations, but is higher than that among the general population, with the highest prevalence found among adults with attention deficit–hyperactive disorder (ADHD) and users of other illicit drugs. Concerns that these practices have become more prevalent as a result of increased prescribing are not supported by large-scale population surveys. Information on trends in misuse in countries where there have been recent increases in prescription and consumption rates, however, is limited. Little is known about the frequency and chronicity of misuse, or the extent of associated harms, particularly among those populations, i.e. adolescents, young adult student populations, those with ADHD and illicit drug users, where abuse may be more likely to occur. Conclusions Continued monitoring of the diversion and misuse of pharmaceutical stimulants is of major clinical importance. Despite recognition of the abuse liability of these medications, there is a paucity of data on the prevalence, patterns and harms of diversion and misuse among populations where problematic use and abuse may be most likely to occur (e.g. adolescents, young adults, illicit drug users). Comprehensive investigations of diversion and misuse among these populations should be a major research priority, as should the assessment of abuse and dependence criteria among those identified as regular users.

The present article reviews and comments the applications of capillary electrophoresis in the different areas of forensic sciences covering the time from the second half of 2009 until the first part of 2011, being the latest update of previous reviews covering the years from 2001 to 2009. Numerous articles reporting applications of capillary electrophoresis to analytical problems of potential interest for the forensic researchers and scientists can be found in the most qualified journals of analytical chemistry, analytical biochemistry, pharmacology, toxicology, laboratory medicine, human genetics, etc. However, the present review has been focused on discussing only the most relevant examples of analytical applications of capillary electrophoretic and electrokinetic techniques published in the following fields: (i) illicit and abused drugs, (ii) ions and small molecules of forensic interest, (iii) proteins and peptides of forensic interest, (iv) dyes and inks, (v) forensic DNA. The present review collects and comments on 60 references.

In the present study, the content of a number of black market testosterone products collected in Austria has been analyzed. Additionally, (13) C/(12) C ratios were measured for testosterone in the products after cleavage of the testosterone ester. The aim was to determine whether some of these products had similar (13) C/(12) C ratios to those normally found for endogenous testosterone, which could prevent a positive isotopic ratio mass spectrometric (IRMS) finding in doping control. Moreover, it was investigated to what extent the preparations contained the masking agent epitestosterone, in order to lower the testosterone/epitestosterone (T/E) ratio in urinary steroid profiles. Out of 30 analyzed products, the declared ingredients differed from the actual content in 10 cases. Epitestosterone, however, could not be found in any of the products. The products displayed δ(13)C(VPDB) values between -23.6 and -29.4‰. For more than half of these products, the values were within a range reported for endogenous urinary steroids.

AIMS To provide an overview of illicit weight-reducing agents found in over-the-counter slimming products ingested by poisoned patients. METHODS The clinical details and analytical findings of slimming products involved in poisoning cases between 2004 and 2009 were reviewed. RESULTS Sixty-six (including one fatal) poisoning cases were encountered. Eighty-one products were analysed and found to contain undeclared prescription weight-loss drugs, drug analogues, banned drugs, drugs used for an inappropriate indication or animal thyroid tissue, with up to six illicit agents within the same product. Many products were readily available from shops or the Internet. CONCLUSIONS A rich diversity of illicit, potentially harmful weight-reducing agents was found in over-the-counter slimming products.

Objectives: To explore the prevalence of substance use among emergency medicine (EM) residents and compare to a prior study conducted in 1992. Methods: A voluntary, anonymous survey was distributed in February 2006 to EM residents nationally in the context of the national in-service examination. Data regarding 13 substances, demographics, and perceptions of personal patterns of substance use were collected. Results: A total of 133 of 134 residencies distributed the surveys (99%). The response rate was 56% of the total EM residents who took the in-service examination (2,397/4,281). The reported prevalence of most illicit drug use, including cocaine, heroin, amphetamines, and other opioids, among EM residents are low. Although residents reporting past marijuana use has declined (52.3% in 1992 to 45.0% in 2006; p

A meta-analysis was conducted to examine the impact of recreational ecstasy use on short-term memory (STM), long-term memory (LTM), verbal and visual memory. We located 26 studies containing memory data for ecstasy and non-ecstasy users from which effect sizes could be derived. The analyses provided measures of STM and LTM in 610 and 439 ecstasy users and revealed moderate-to-large effect sizes (Cohen's d) of d = -0.63 and d = -0.87, respectively. The difference between STM versus LTM was non-significant. The effect size for verbal memory was large (d = -1.00) and significantly larger than the small effect size for visual memory (d = -0.27). Indeed, our analyses indicate that visual memory may be affected more by concurrent cannabis use. Finally, we found that the total lifetime number of ecstasy tablets consumed did not significantly predict memory performance.

This paper reviews the pharmacology and toxicology of 3,4‐methylenedioxy‐N‐ethyl‐amphetamine (MDEA, “eve”). MDEA is a ring‐substituted amphetamine (RSA) like MDMA, its well known N‐methyl analog. Both have become very popular substances of abuse in the techno‐ and house‐music scene. They can evoke psychomotor stimulation, mild alterations of perception, sensations of closeness and a positive emotional state as well as sympathomimetic physical effects. At present, the name “ecstasy” is no longer used only for MDMA, but for the whole group of RSAs (MDA, MDMA, MDEA and MBDB) as they are chemically and pharmacologically nearly identical; moreover, many ecstasy pills contain mixtures of the RSAs. Hence, for a selective review on MDEA, it is crucial to strictly differentiate between: 1) street and chemical names, and 2) studies with or without chemically defined substances. In order to present MDEA‐specific information, the pharmacodynamics and kinetics are described on the basis of MDEA challenge studies in animals and humans. In the toxicology section, we present a collection of case reports on fatalities where MDEA was toxicologically confirmed. On the question of serotonergic neurotoxicity and possible long‐term consequences, however, MDEA‐specific information is available from animal studies only. The neurotoxic potential of MDEA in humans is difficult to estimate, as ecstasy users do not consume pure substances. For future research, challenge studies in animals using dosing regimens adapted to human consumption patterns are needed. Such challenge studies should directly compare individual RSAs. They will represent the most viable and fruitful approach to the resolution of the highly controversial issues of serotonergic neurotoxicity and its functional consequences.

A range of information needs should be met in order to better understand and predict the longevity/existence of novel psychoactive substances (NPS). This conceptual paper argues that one way of assessing how long a molecule may be around is to document how the life cycles or natural histories of 'traditional' drugs and NPS evolve. The earliest indication of the possible appearance of a new substance might be evidenced on the DeepWeb. However, this means they are less visible, in line with the clandestine nature of drug use and supply. Therefore, monitoring discussion groups/fora needs the development of new methods compared to those used in the Surface Net. Issues needing consideration in establishing NPS life cycles are outlined here, together with the probable outcomes that could result. The approach advocated means that it should be easier to identify which NPS are likely to come up or are emerging in real time, and, therefore, pre-empt/prevent their supply.

Hair analysis for illicit substances is widely used to detect chronic drug consumption or abstention from drugs. Testees are increasingly seeking ways to avoid detection by using a variety of untested adulterant products (e.g., shampoos, cleansers) widely sold online. This study aims to investigate adulteration of hair samples and to assess effectiveness of such methods.The literature on hair test evasion was searched for on PubMed or MEDLINE, Psycinfo, and Google Scholar. Given the sparse nature of peer-reviewed data on this subject, results were integrated with a qualitative assessment of online sources, including user-orientated information or commercial websites, drug fora and "chat rooms". Over four million web sources were identified in a Google search by using "beat hair drug test" and the first 86 were monitored on regular basis and considered for further analysis.Attempts to influence hair test results are widespread. Various "shampoos," and "cleansers" among other products, were found for sale, which claim to remove analytes. Often advertised with aggressive marketing strategies, which include discounts, testimonials, and unsupported claims of efficacy. However, these products may pose serious health hazards and are also potentially toxic. In addition, many anecdotal reports suggest that Novel Psychoactive Substances are also consumed as an evasion technique, as these are not easily detectable via standard drug test. Recent changes on Novel Psychoactive Substances legislations such as New Psychoactive Bill in the UK might further challenge the testing process.Further research is needed by way of chemical analysis and trial of the adulterant products sold online and their effects as well as the development of more sophisticated hair testing techniques.

Keywords: Drug checking; drug testing; drug trend monitoring; new psychoactive substances; pill testing; self-report

Recently, two new ecstasy-like substances, methylone and mCPP, were found in street drugs in the Netherlands by the Drugs Information and Monitoring System (DIMS). Methylone (3,4-methylenedioxymethcathinone) is the main ingredient of a new liquid designer drug that appeared on the Dutch drug market, called. 'Explosion'. mCPP (meta-chloropheizylpiperazine) is a substance often used as a probe for the serotonin function in psychiatric research, and has now been found in street drugs, both in tablets and powders. Methylone as well as mCPP act oil monoantinergic systems, resembling MDAM (3,4-methylenedioxymethaniphetamine), with mCPP mainly affecting the serotonin system. The subjective effects of both new substances exhibit subtle differences with those of MDAM. Only little is known about the harmfulness of both methylone and mCPP. However, because of similarities between these substances and MDAM, risks common to MDMA cannot be excluded.

Introduction and Aims. Novel psychoactive substances are increasingly available, both in traditional storefronts and via the Internet.While some use of such substances has been captured in Australian consumer surveys and wastewater analyses, there is little information about the products that are available to Australia via the Internet. Design and Methods. Systematic monthly Internet monitoring for emerging psychoactive substances was conducted between July 2011 and July 2012.Webstores identified through searches were examined to determine if they sold stimulant or psychedelic emerging psychoactive substances to Australia. Internet search numbers for these products were examined over time using commercial tools. Results. In 12 months, 43 unique webstores were identified selling to Australia, averaging two new webstores per month; however, two-fifths had closed within six months.Over 200 unique chemically unspecified products sold by purported effect (e.g. ‘charge’) were identified over 12 months, averaging 10 new products per month. Almost half of these products had disappeared from the market within six months. Eighty-six unique chemically specified products (e.g. methylenedioxypyrovalerone) were identified over 12 months, averaging four new novel substances per month. Once released, these products typically remained available, with almost 90% still available for purchase over a 6-month period. Almost 40 000 searches for these products emanated from Australia per month. Discussion and Conclusion. This market is fast paced as retailers strive to beat both regulatory processes and competitors. Ongoing attention to these markets, incorporating surveillance of both Internet and traditional storefronts, is crucial as several of the substances identified have demonstrated potential for health and neurological harm.