New Psychoactive Substances consumption and their monitoring during Covid-19 pandemic: doi: 10.7417/CT.2021.2330

Abstract

Currently, the world is facing an unprecedented change in everyday life, due to the Covid-19 pandemic that is affecting all the nation for about one year. The public health systems were restructured in all the countries as a response to the constant emergency status, neglecting some services like toxicological analyses. In this scenario, the current spread of the New Psychoactive Substances is less controlled than before and the data on its expected mutation come from seizures analyses. Where the global distribution of drugs of abuse was affected by the restriction, fentanyl seizures did not drop during the pandemic. Moreover, the new synthesis of fentanyl analogs resulted in new toxic adulterants as by-products. Furthermore, diversion of benzodiazepines and new designer benzodiazepines were reported during the pandemic period. In this scenario, the scientific community and the international agencies should tighten their collaboration in order to monitor the emerging of new unknown substances