Miliano Cristina, Margiani Giulia, Fattore Liana, De Luca Maria Antonietta
Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Cagliari, Cittadella Universitaria di Monserrato-SP 8, Km 0.700-09042, Monserrato, 09121 Cagliari, Italy.
CNR Institute of Neuroscience-Cagliari, National Research Council, Cittadella Universitaria di Monserrato-SP 8, Km 0.700-09042, Monserrato, 09100 Cagliari, Italy.
Brain Sci. 2018 Jun 29;8(7):123. doi: 10.3390/brainsci8070123.
In the last decade, the trend of drug consumption has completely changed, and several new psychoactive substances (NPS) have appeared on the drug market as legal alternatives to common drugs of abuse. Designed to reproduce the effects of illegal substances like cannabis, ecstasy, cocaine, or ketamine, NPS are only in part controlled by UN conventions and represent an emerging threat to global public health. The effects of NPS greatly differ from drug to drug and relatively scarce information is available at present about their pharmacology and potential toxic effects. Yet, compared to more traditional drugs, more dangerous short- and long-term effects have been associated with their use, and hospitalizations and fatal intoxications have also been reported after NPS use. In the era of cyberculture, the Internet acts as an ideal platform to promote and market these compounds, leading to a global phenomenon. Hidden by several aliases, these substances are sold across the web, and information about consumption is shared by online communities through drug fora, YouTube channels, social networks, and smartphone applications (apps). This review intends to provide an overview and analysis of social media that contribute to the popularity of NPS especially among young people. The possibility of using the same channels responsible for their growing diffusion to make users aware of the risks associated with NPS use is proposed.
在过去十年中，药物消费趋势彻底改变，几种新型精神活性物质（NPS）作为常见滥用药物的合法替代品出现在毒品市场。NPS旨在重现大麻、摇头丸、可卡因或氯胺酮等非法物质的效果，仅部分受联合国公约管制，对全球公共卫生构成新的威胁。NPS的效果因药物而异，目前关于其药理学和潜在毒性作用的信息相对较少。然而，与更传统的药物相比，使用NPS会带来更危险的短期和长期影响，使用NPS后也有住院和致命中毒的报告。在网络文化时代，互联网成为推广和销售这些化合物的理想平台，导致这一现象在全球出现。这些物质以多个别名隐藏，在网上销售，关于消费的信息通过毒品论坛、YouTube频道、社交网络和智能手机应用程序（应用）由在线社区分享。本综述旨在概述和分析促成NPS流行的社交媒体，尤其是在年轻人中的流行情况。还提出利用导致NPS不断扩散的相同渠道让用户意识到使用NPS相关风险的可能性。
