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        'New/Designer Benzodiazepines': an analysis of the literature and psychonauts’ trip reports

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        New_Designer_Benzodiazepines_author_s_final_accepted_version_Wiord_.pdf (PDF, 1Mb)
        Author
        Orsolini, Laura
        Corkery, John
        Chiappini, Stephania
        Guirguis, Amira
        Vento, Alessandro
        De Berardis, Domenico
        Papanti, Duccio
        Schifano, Fabrizio
        Attention
        2299/22567
        Abstract
        Background: NPS belonging to the benzodiazepine (BZD) class, e.g., ‘legal/designer BZDs’/‘research chemicals’, have recently emerged in the drug (mainly online/virtual) market. Objective: While certain NPS belonging to the BZD class possess pharmacological profiles similar to controlled pharmaceutical BZDs, clinical and pharmacological profiles of current emerging BZDs are still not well-described. Therefore, there is a need to increase clinicians’/public health knowledge/awareness, to incentive harm reduction strategies. Method: A comprehensive overview was carried out by using the EMCDDA/EDND database regu-larly monitored by our research team, by specifically looking at the ‘new BZDs’ so far notified. Furthermore, given the limitation of peer-reviewed data published so far, a nonparticipant multilin-gual qualitative netnographic study was conducted to obtain further clinical/pharmacological/ toxicological data, including psychonauts’ online trip reports. Results: First designer BZDs appeared as NPS around 2007. So far, 29 designer BZDs have been notified to the EMCDDA, being some of them extremely powerful, also at lower dosages. They are sold as tablets/powder/pellets/capsules/blotters/liquids, at very affordable prices, and variably ad-ministered. Some are also sold on the illicit drugmarket as counterfeit forms of traditional BZDs or as either adulterants or diluents in heroin or other synthetic opioids/cannabinoids. Nowadays, there is no guarantee of the quality of designer BZDs composition/purification and, hence, most NPS consumers may be inadvertently exposed to unsafe and harmful compounds. Conclusion: Given the limited information on their pharmacology/toxicity, variations in dosage, onset of effects, combination of substances, potency, and general patient or individual variability, the concomitant use of these substances with other drugs entails several and unpredictable risks.
        Publication date
        2020-01-10
        Published in
        Current Neuropharmacology
        Published version
        https://doi.org/10.2174/1570159X18666200110121333
        Other links
        http://hdl.handle.net/2299/22567
        Metadata
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