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Non-Medical Use of Novel Synthetic Opioids: A New Challenge to Public Health

Background: In the last decade there has been a progressive increase in the use of new psychoactive substances (NPSs) that are not yet under international control. In particular, novel synthetic opioids (NSOs) have reappeared on the recreational drug market in the last few years. As a result, the us...

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Autores principales: Lovrecic, Barbara, Lovrecic, Mercedes, Gabrovec, Branko, Carli, Marco, Pacini, Matteo, Maremmani, Angelo G. I., Maremmani, Icro
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6352208/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30634521
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16020177
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author Lovrecic, Barbara
Lovrecic, Mercedes
Gabrovec, Branko
Carli, Marco
Pacini, Matteo
Maremmani, Angelo G. I.
Maremmani, Icro
author_facet Lovrecic, Barbara
Lovrecic, Mercedes
Gabrovec, Branko
Carli, Marco
Pacini, Matteo
Maremmani, Angelo G. I.
Maremmani, Icro
author_sort Lovrecic, Barbara
collection PubMed
description Background: In the last decade there has been a progressive increase in the use of new psychoactive substances (NPSs) that are not yet under international control. In particular, novel synthetic opioids (NSOs) have reappeared on the recreational drug market in the last few years. As a result, the use of NSOs has increased rapidly. This poses an emerging and demanding challenge to public health. Aim: To raise awareness among clinicians and other professionals about NPSs, especially NSOs, to summarize current knowledge about pharmacological properties, forms of NSO on the market, pattern of use, effects and consequences of use. Methods: An electronic search was carried out on the Medline/PubMed and Google Scholar databases to find selected search terms. Results: Some NPSs are already controlled, while others can be legally sold directly on the drug market (mainly via internet, less so by drug dealers) or be used as precursors for the synthesis of other designer drugs that mimic the psychoactive effects of controlled substances. Potential side-effects of NSOs include miosis, sedation, respiratory depression, hypothermia, inhibition of gastrointestinal propulsion, death (from opioid overdose). Conclusions: The severity of the opioid crisis has intensified with the introduction of highly potent NSOs on the drug market. As long as addicts are dying from overdose or similar causes, there is something more constructive to do than waiting for addicts to overdose on heroin at a place located near a remedy, as if to say, within reach of naloxone.
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spelling pubmed-63522082019-02-01 Non-Medical Use of Novel Synthetic Opioids: A New Challenge to Public Health Lovrecic, Barbara Lovrecic, Mercedes Gabrovec, Branko Carli, Marco Pacini, Matteo Maremmani, Angelo G. I. Maremmani, Icro Int J Environ Res Public Health Review Background: In the last decade there has been a progressive increase in the use of new psychoactive substances (NPSs) that are not yet under international control. In particular, novel synthetic opioids (NSOs) have reappeared on the recreational drug market in the last few years. As a result, the use of NSOs has increased rapidly. This poses an emerging and demanding challenge to public health. Aim: To raise awareness among clinicians and other professionals about NPSs, especially NSOs, to summarize current knowledge about pharmacological properties, forms of NSO on the market, pattern of use, effects and consequences of use. Methods: An electronic search was carried out on the Medline/PubMed and Google Scholar databases to find selected search terms. Results: Some NPSs are already controlled, while others can be legally sold directly on the drug market (mainly via internet, less so by drug dealers) or be used as precursors for the synthesis of other designer drugs that mimic the psychoactive effects of controlled substances. Potential side-effects of NSOs include miosis, sedation, respiratory depression, hypothermia, inhibition of gastrointestinal propulsion, death (from opioid overdose). Conclusions: The severity of the opioid crisis has intensified with the introduction of highly potent NSOs on the drug market. As long as addicts are dying from overdose or similar causes, there is something more constructive to do than waiting for addicts to overdose on heroin at a place located near a remedy, as if to say, within reach of naloxone. MDPI 2019-01-09 2019-01 /pmc/articles/PMC6352208/ /pubmed/30634521 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16020177 Text en © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Lovrecic, Barbara
Lovrecic, Mercedes
Gabrovec, Branko
Carli, Marco
Pacini, Matteo
Maremmani, Angelo G. I.
Maremmani, Icro
Non-Medical Use of Novel Synthetic Opioids: A New Challenge to Public Health
title Non-Medical Use of Novel Synthetic Opioids: A New Challenge to Public Health
title_full Non-Medical Use of Novel Synthetic Opioids: A New Challenge to Public Health
title_fullStr Non-Medical Use of Novel Synthetic Opioids: A New Challenge to Public Health
title_full_unstemmed Non-Medical Use of Novel Synthetic Opioids: A New Challenge to Public Health
title_short Non-Medical Use of Novel Synthetic Opioids: A New Challenge to Public Health
title_sort non-medical use of novel synthetic opioids: a new challenge to public health
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6352208/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30634521
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16020177
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