OBJECTIVE The Internet contains an extraordinary amount of information on the recreational use of psychoactive substances. We investigated the effect of the Internet on the drug-use knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of adolescents. METHODS Cross-sectional survey of adolescents being managed for substance abuse. RESULTS Of 12 patients (9 male, 3 female) who had used the Internet to learn a...

The use of psychoactive substances has dire consequences for the individual and the society at large. This study aims to ascertain the risk factors for the misuse of psychoactive substances among University students in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Two hundred and ninety three subjects participated in the study. Questionnaires on risk factors and varieties of psychoactive substances used a...

Patients can use numerous drugs that exist outside of existing regulatory statutes in order to get "legal highs." Legal psychoactive substances represent a challenge to the emergency medicine physician due to the sheer number of available agents, their multiple toxidromes and presentations, their escaping traditional methods of analysis, and the reluctance of patients to divulge their use of th...

BACKGROUND During the past few years, there has been an increasing recognition that Internet is playing a significant role in the synthesis, the distribution and the consumption of Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS).The aim of this study was to assess the online availability of NPS in Persian language websites. METHODS The Google search engine was used to carry out an accurate qualitative as...

Adolescence is a period of transition from childhood to adulthood, characterized by efforts to achieve the objectives related to the expectations of the culture, as well as the requirements of the physical, mental, emotional, and social development. It has its own characteristics in the biological, psychological, and social terms, with a process of identity formation, the development of social,...

The abuse of novel psychoactive substances (NPS) has been increasing dramatically worldwide since late 2000s. By the end of 2015, more than 560 NPS had been reported to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction. Although the most popular compounds are synthetic cannabinoids and psychostimulatory derivatives of cathinone (so-called β-keto-amphetamines), novel synthetic opioids ...

1Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust, London; 2Cognition, Schizophrenia and Imaging Laboratory, Department of Psychosis Studies, the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London; 3Clinical Toxicology, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and King’s Health Partners, London, UK; 4School of Life Sciences and Medicine, King’s College London, London, UK; 5Department of Ps...

BACKGROUND Syndemics of illicit drug use and HIV remain as significant public health issues around the world. There has been increasing concern regarding the rapidly growing market of new psychoactive substances, particularly in Asia. In response, the Japanese government has increasingly banned such substances in recent years. We sought to identify the prevalence and correlates of use of quasi-...