Cannabis use is associated with reduced harm perception towards illicit drugs and experimentation with new psychoactive substances among European adolescents and young adults

Author(s):  
Israel Agaku ◽  
Uyoyo Omaduvie ◽  
Constantine Vardavas ◽  
Filippos Filippidis
2014 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
M. Lupi ◽  
G. Martinotti ◽  
R. Santacroce ◽  
E. Cinosi ◽  
F. Petruccelli ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 114-118
Author(s):  
Rafael Alves Guimarães ◽  
Márcia Maria de Souza ◽  
Karlla Antonieta Amorim Caetano ◽  
Sheila Araujo Teles ◽  
Marcos André de Matos

Summary Objective: To estimate the prevalence and factors associated with illicit drug use by adolescents and young adults of a formal urban settlement. Method: Cross-sectional study including adolescents and young adults 12-24 years of an urban settlement in the Midwest Region of Brazil. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire and analyzed using Stata, version 12.0. We used Poisson regression model to estimate the factors associated with illicit drug use. Results: Of the total participants (n=105), 27.6% (95CI 20.0-36.9%) had used illicit drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, crack, LSD and inhalants. The consumption of these substances was associated with male gender, use of body piercing and/or tattoos, licit drug use and self-report of signs and/or symptoms of sexually transmitted infections. Conclusion: High prevalence of illicit drug use was found in the individuals investigated, ratifying the presence of risk factors to the vulnerability of the settlers to use these substances in the urban settlement population.


Author(s):  
Alex Stevens

This chapter analyses the development of British policy on illicit drugs from the late nineteenth century until 2016. It shows how this is characterized by contestation between social groups who have an interest in the control and regulation of some drugs and their users. It argues that there is a ‘medico-penal constellation’ of powerful organizations that produce British drug policy in accordance with their own ideas and interest. There have been clashes between the different principles held by people within these organizations but these have often been dealt with through the creation of pragmatic compromises. Recent examples include policies towards ‘recovery’ in drug treatment and new psychoactive substances whilst heroin-related deaths are used to explain why, so far, these pragmatic compromises have not ended the prohibition upon which British drug policy is based.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Flaminia Vincenti ◽  
Camilla Montesano ◽  
Francesca Di Ottavio ◽  
Adolfo Gregori ◽  
Dario Compagnone ◽  
...  

New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) are a global concern since they are spreading at an unprecedented rate. Despite their commerce still being limited compared to traditional illicit drugs, the identification of NPS in seizures may represent a challenge because of the variety of possible structures. In this study we report the successful application of molecular networking (MN) to identify unexpected fentanyl analogs in two seizures. The samples were extracted with 1 mL of methanol and analyzed with an untargeted data-dependent acquisition approach by LC–HRMS. The obtained data were examined using the MN workflow within the Global Natural Product Search (GNPS). A job was submitted to GNPS by including both seizures and standard mixtures containing synthetic cannabinoids and fentanyls raw files; spectra obtained from standards were used to establish representative networks for both molecular classes. All synthetic cannabinoids in the mixture were linked together resulting in a molecular network despite their different fragmentation spectra. Looking at fentanyls, all the molecules with the typical 188.143 and 105.070 fragments were combined in a representative network. By exploiting the standard networks two unexpected fentanyls were found in the analyzed seizures and were putatively annotated as para-fluorofuranylfentanyl and (iso)butyrylfentanyl. The identity of these two fentanyl analogs was confirmed by NMR analysis. Other m/z ratios in the seizures were compatible with fentanyl derivatives; however, they appeared to be minor constituents, probably impurities or synthetic byproducts. The latter might be of interest for investigations of common fingerprints among different seizures.


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