Cryptomarkets, NPS, and "psychnaught" culture

There is evidence that mindfulness-based interventions are effective as stress-reduction techniques in people with various stressor-related disorders. Research also shows overall improvement in mental health well-being in practitioners of mindfulness. However, there is limited literature probing the potential negative impacts of mindfulness practice. Relapse is a major challenge in substance use disorders (SUDs), particularly for people with chronic pain. There is an overlap between SUDs and chronic pain, which share common pathophysiological pathways that could contribute to poor pain control and mental instability...

Sinomenine is a natural compound extracted from the medicinal plant Sinomenium acutum. Its supplementation has been shown to present benefits in a variety of animal models of central nervous system (CNS) disorders, such as cerebral ischemia, intracerebral hemorrhage, traumatic brain injury (TBI), Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD), epilepsy, depression, multiple sclerosis, morphine tolerance, and glioma. Therefore, sinomenine is now considered a potential agent for the prevention and/or treatment of CNS disorders...

Psychedelics are hallucinogenic drugs that alter the state of consciousness substantially. They bring about psychological, auditory, and visual changes. The psychedelics act on the brain, implying that they have a powerful psychological impact. One of the main factors contributing to disability worldwide is pain. The majority of people deal with pain on a daily basis. Living with chronic pain affects daily life and has social implications. Chronic pain can be associated with any disease that may be genetic, idiopathic, or traumatic...

BACKGROUND: Opioid use disorder presents a public health issue afflicting millions across the globe. There is a pressing need to understand the opioid supply chain to gain new insights into the mitigation of opioid use and effectively combat the opioid crisis. The role of anonymous online marketplaces and forums that resemble eBay or Amazon, where anyone can post, browse, and purchase opioid commodities, has become increasingly important in opioid trading. Therefore, a greater understanding of anonymous markets and forums may enable public health officials and other stakeholders to comprehend the scope of the crisis...

Synthetic opioids constitute one of the fastest growing groups of new psychoactive substances (NPS) worldwide. With fentanyl analogues being increasingly controlled via class-wide scheduling, many non-fentanyl related opioids are now emerging on the recreational opioid market, rendering the landscape highly complex and dynamic. While new compounds are entering the supply in rapid and unpredictable manners, some recent patterns have become apparent. Many of these newly emerging opioids are being pirated from early patent literature and/or research papers, synthesized and sold online through various channels...

BACKGROUND: Novel psychoactive substances (NPS) present continuous and growing challenges for the scientific, medical, and interventional communities as emerging substances on recreational drug markets change national and international drug landscapes. NPS account for an increasing proportion of adverse events, hospitalizations, and deaths due to increasing potency and unanticipated biological effects compared to predecessors. This study evaluated the utility of drug use forums as an early indicator or predictor of impending intoxications with potentially harmful or lethal outcomes prior to their occurrences...

This paper investigates the functioning of Online Black-Markets (OBMs), i.e. a digital infrastructure operating in the Dark Net that enables the exchange of illegal goods such as drugs, weapons and fake digital identities. OBMs exist notwithstanding adverse conditions such as police interventions, scams and market breakdowns. Relying on a longitudinal case study, we focus on the dynamics of interactions among actors and marketplace technologies and we identify three mechanisms explaining OBMs operations. In particular, we show that OBMs infrastructure is the result of commoditization, platformization and resilience processes...

Clandestine chemists have demonstrated an ability to convert commercially available pseudoephedrine formulations to methamphetamine. Some of these formulations have properties that manufacturers claim limit or block the extraction of pseudoephedrine and its direct conversion to methamphetamine. In this study, 3 commercially available pseudoephedrine formulations were evaluated for ease of extraction and conversion to methamphetamine using a common chemistry technique called the one-pot method that is frequently employed by clandestine chemists...

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No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

INTRODUCTION: User surveys indicate that expectations of higher drug purity are a key reason for cryptomarket use. In 2014-2015, Spain's NGO Energy Control conducted a 1-year pilot project to provide a testing service to cryptomarket drug users using the Transnational European Drug Information (TEDI) guidelines. In this paper, we present content and purity data from the trial. METHODS: 219 samples were analyzed by gas chromatography associated with mass spectrometry (GC/MS)...

BACKGROUND: In spite of globalizing processes 'offline' retail drug markets remain localized and - in recent decades - typically 'closed', in which dealers sell primarily to known customers. We characterize drug cryptomarkets as 'anonymous open' marketplaces that allow the diffusion of drugs across locales. Where cryptomarket customers make stock-sourcing purchases for offline distribution, the cryptomarket may indirectly serve drug users who are not themselves cryptomarket customers, thereby increasing the drug diffusing capacity of these marketplaces...

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Cryptomarkets-on-line, anonymous market-places for illicit goods and services that specialize mainly in drugs-account for a small but rapidly growing share of the illicit drug market in many countries. Policy responses so far are based generally on the assumption that their rise will only increase drug harms. In this contribution for debate, we question this assumption. METHODS: We provide a narrative review of the emerging literature connected to drug cryptomarkets...