Social Equity Research Centre and Digital Ethnography Research Centre, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia.
National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
Drug Alcohol Rev. 2024 May;43(4):969-974. doi: 10.1111/dar.13825. Epub 2024 Mar 4.
Prohibited drugs in unregulated markets may be adulterated, resulting in increased risks for people who use drugs. This study investigated levels of drug adulteration and substitution of drugs purchased in Australia from cryptomarkets.
Data were collected from a darknet forum called Test4Pay from 1 September 2022 to 23 August 2023. Posts were included if they reported the results of drug samples submitted by post to the Vancouver-based Get Your Drugs Tested service, which uses Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy with immunoassay strip tests (fentanyl and benzodiazepines).
Of 103 samples, 65% contained only the advertised substance, 14% contained the advertised substance in combination with other psychoactive and/or potentially harmful substances and for 21%, the advertised substance was absent. Substances sold as MDMA, methamphetamine or heroin were consistently found to contain only the advertised substance, while substances sold as 2C-B, alprazolam or ketamine were the most likely to be completely substituted. Only 4 samples sold as cocaine contained solely the advertised substance, with 13 containing cocaine with adulterants like lidocaine, creatine, levamisole and boric acid (n = 19). No fentanyl contamination was detected. Novel dissociatives and novel benzodiazepines were detected, as well as a nitazene compound.
Drug markets under prohibition continue to contain numerous unexpected substances, some of which can elevate risk of harm. Cryptomarkets are not immune to this problem, despite review systems, which should, in theory, make vendors more accountable for the quality of their stock. These findings demonstrate a need for expansion of local drug checking services in Australia.
不受监管市场中的违禁药物可能被掺假，从而增加了吸毒者的风险。本研究调查了在澳大利亚从加密市场购买的药物的药物掺假和替代水平。
数据来自一个名为 Test4Pay 的暗网论坛，收集时间为 2022 年 9 月 1 日至 2023 年 8 月 23 日。如果帖子报告了通过邮寄提交给位于温哥华的 Get Your Drugs Tested 服务的药物样本的结果，则将帖子纳入研究，该服务使用傅里叶变换红外光谱法和免疫测定条测试（芬太尼和苯并二氮杂䓬）。
在 103 个样本中，65%仅含有广告宣传的物质，14%含有广告宣传物质与其他精神活性物质和/或潜在有害物质的混合物，21%的样本中则没有广告宣传的物质。销售的被标记为 MDMA、冰毒或海洛因的物质始终只含有广告宣传的物质，而销售的被标记为 2C-B、阿普唑仑或氯胺酮的物质最有可能完全被替代。只有 4 个被标记为可卡因的样本仅含有广告宣传的物质，其中 13 个样本含有可卡因和局麻药利多卡因、肌酸、左咪唑和硼酸（n=19）等掺杂物。没有检测到芬太尼污染。检测到新型分离剂和新型苯并二氮䓬，以及一种硝甲西泮化合物。
受禁止的毒品市场仍然存在许多意想不到的物质，其中一些物质会增加伤害风险。加密市场并非免受这个问题的影响，尽管有审查系统，理论上这些系统应该使供应商对其库存的质量更负责。这些发现表明澳大利亚需要扩大当地的毒品检测服务。
