The e-Psychonauts' 'Spiced' World; Assessment of the Synthetic Cannabinoids' Information Available Online (Napoletano, 2022)
Zangani Caroline Schifano Fabrizio Napoletano Flavia Arillotta Davide Gilgar Liam Guirguis Amira Corkery John M. Gambini Orsola Vento Alessandro.
Current neuropharmacology 2020;18 (10 ): 966 -1051 .
BACKGROUND: A wide range of novel psychoactive substances (NPS) is regularly searched and discussed online by web-based drug enthusiasts (i.e. the e-psychonauts). Among NPS, the range of synthetic cannabinoids (SC; 'Spice') currently represents a challenge for governments and clinicians., METHODS: Using a web crawler (i.e. the NPS.Finder R), the present study aimed at assessing psychonauts' fora/platforms to better understand the online mentions of SC., RESULTS: The open-web crawling/navigating software identified here some 1,103 synthetic cannabinoids. Of these, 863 molecules were not listed in either the international or the European NPS databases., CONCLUSION: A web crawling approach helped here in identifying a large range of unknown SC likely to possess a misuse potential. Most of these novel/emerging molecules are still relatively unknown. This is a reason for concern; each of these analogues potentially presents different toxicodynamic profiles and there is a lack of docking, preclinical, and clinical observations. Strengthening multidisciplinary collaboration between clinicians and bioinformatics may prove useful in better assessing SC-associated public health risks. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.