Monitoring drug trends in the digital environment–New methods, challenges and the opportunities provided by automated approaches

Guarita, Bruno; Běláčková, Vendula; Gouwe, Daan van der; Blankers, Matthijs; Pazitny, Martin; Griffiths, Paul

doi:10.1016/j.drugpo.2021.103210

Cited by 10 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…While these studies were mostly published ‘early’ in the study period (2015–2016), some users could still be found on social media as of June 2022. The ethical disparities found in this review underline the importance of understanding the ‘critical intersections of ethical review and digital methodologies’ [105] to foster better ethical considerations in illicit drug advertisement studies.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, Zhou et al [72] suggested further complementing fine-grained mining analysis techniques with network analysis to understand how communities differ between drug and non-drug related networks. These computational advances inscribe themselves within the broader monitoring of drug markets through online research [105] by institutions like the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drugs Addiction, World Health Organization or Interpol. Social media detection software should therefore be leveraged as a complimentary tool for longitudinal surveillance of trends instead of ad-hoc research.…”

Section: Towards An Integrated Approach To Detectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Understanding and preventing the advertisement and sale of illicit drugs to young people through social media: A multidisciplinary scoping review

Fuller,

Vasek,

Mariconti

et al. 2023

Drug and Alcohol Review

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IssuesThe sale of illicit drugs online has expanded to mainstream social media apps. These platforms provide access to a wide audience, especially children and adolescents. Research is in its infancy and scattered due to the multidisciplinary aspects of the phenomena.ApproachWe present a multidisciplinary systematic scoping review on the advertisement and sale of illicit drugs to young people. Peer‐reviewed studies written in English, Spanish and French were searched for the period 2015 to 2022. We extracted data on users, drugs studied, rate of posts, terminology used and study methodology.Key FindingsA total of 56 peer‐reviewed papers were included. The analysis of these highlights the variety of drugs advertised and platforms used to do so. Various methodological designs were considered. Approaches to detecting illicit content were the focus of many studies as algorithms move from detecting drug‐related keywords to drug selling behaviour. We found that on average, for the studies reviewed, 13 in 100 social media posts advertise illicit drugs. However, popular platforms used by adolescents are rarely studied.ImplicationsPromotional content is increasing in sophistication to appeal to young people, shifting towards healthy, glamourous and seemingly legal depictions of drugs. Greater inter‐disciplinary collaboration between computational and qualitative approaches are needed to comprehensively study the sale and advertisement of illegal drugs on social media across different platforms. This requires coordinated action from researchers, policy makers and service providers.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Towards An Integrated Approach To Detectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding and preventing the advertisement and sale of illicit drugs to young people through social media: A multidisciplinary scoping review

Fuller,

Vasek,

Mariconti

et al. 2023

Drug and Alcohol Review

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“…Inclusivity also facilitates knowledge empowerment of the study participants and promotes de development of citizen science, a goal set by the European Union to promote civil society participation. Increased participation would also accelerate the introduction of patient-reported outcomes that have shown to improve the obtention of conventional methodologies outcomes obtained in clinic settings (15,73,74).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Those raise ethical concerns as the data is gathered without the consent of the people who produced it. Additionally, some authors consider that the practice violates the privacy of the community members (15). On the other hand, innovative methodologies that refrain from using the dominant medico-legal discourse and interact with web-based drug forums using alternative discourses regarding drug use show a greater understanding of biomedical research ethics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying new psychoactive substances (NPS) using drug checking services: An innovative observational study design

Grifell

Mir²,

Estelrich-Azubide³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Background Despite the proliferation of new psychoactive substances (NPS) in recent years, there are many gaps in our understanding of the phenomena. Current methodologies still fail to provide timely and scientifically reliable knowledge between controlled trials and online data reports that lack analytical confirmation of the reported substances. This study tests a new online, collaborative, observational methodology for tracking the emergence of NPS. It involves conducting laboratory analysis of community-submitted NPS samples using a naturalistic approach. Methods Participants were recruited from online communities of people who claim to use NPS. They were asked to send and report on the substances they would have taken independently of the study participation. They received free drug-checking services for the samples sent during the data collection. Participants were also asked to complete multiple online questionnaires to provide information about the analysed NPS samples. Comprehensive literature reviews of the analysed samples were conducted to assess the importance of the results. Results Participants sent 136 sample submission questionnaires. Ninety-two were followed by the laboratory analysis of a submitted NPS sample. Only 54 of those analysed NPS samples completed all the study protocols. Forty different NPS were identified in the laboratory analysis. Of those, 13 substances had no previous reports in the scientific literature as new psychoactive substances. Another 12 substances had no available peer-reviewed data regarding their subjective effects. Only one opioid and no synthetic cannabinoids were detected. Conclusions The confirmed identification of 13 previously unreported NPS demonstrates the capacity of the current methodology to identify potentially emerging NPS. Despite the vast diversity of substances submitted, the most common NPS types (e.g., cannabinoids and opioids) were not found. Altogether, these results warrant further research to consolidate the favourable impact of monitoring the NPS market using this innovative methodology.

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“…Over the past decade or so, social drug research has expanded into new terrains as methods and monitoring tools have also advanced in response to evolving drug markets, patterns of drug use and public policies. In this range of novel methods, the growing adoption of wastewater analysis, syringe residue analysis and darknet drug market scraping as additions to the suite of monitoring tools over the past few years has been welcomed (Guarita et al , 2021; Lefrancois et al , 2020; Sulej-Suchomska et al , 2020). As colleagues from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) note in the latest DHSP blog post about online drug markets during the pandemic, we need more innovative approaches and new tools to understand ever-changing drug markets and habits (Groshkova et al , 2022).…”

Section: Launching “Drugs Habits and Social Policy” Inaugural Editori...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Editorial

Sultan

Rychert

2022

DHS

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Monitoring drug trends in the digital environment–New methods, challenges and the opportunities provided by automated approaches

Cited by 10 publications

References 31 publications

Understanding and preventing the advertisement and sale of illicit drugs to young people through social media: A multidisciplinary scoping review

Understanding and preventing the advertisement and sale of illicit drugs to young people through social media: A multidisciplinary scoping review

Identifying new psychoactive substances (NPS) using drug checking services: An innovative observational study design

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