Safer Tripping: Serotonergic Psychedelics and Drug Checking. Submission and Detection Rates, Potential Harms, and Challenges for Drug Analysis

Abstract

Purpose of Review With the continuous emergence of new psychoactive substances, drug checking (DC) services are challenged by an increasingly complex drug market. Considering the resumed scientific and public interest in serotonergic psychedelics (SPs) like LSD, psilocybin, and 2C-B, we present the results of a literature search investigating the presence and proportion of SPs in DC samples. Recent Findings In 15 identified reports, submission and detection rates of SPs were comparably low, but increasing. Samples contained considerable amounts of adulterations or analogues, mostly novel SPs with unknown toxicological profiles and in some cases potentially life-threatening effects. The detection of SPs, however, requires advanced analysis techniques currently not available to most DC services. Summary Given the substantial proportion of novel SPs in DC samples and the associated risks, DC can be a valuable harm reduction and monitoring tool for SPs if analysis techniques with high sensitivity are employed.

Bonding to Psychedelics: Synthesis of Molecularly Imprinted Polymers Targeting 4-Bromo-2,5-dimethoxyphenethylamine (2C-B)

“…After Shulgin et al [4] first reported the synthesis and psychoactive effects of 2C-B, this substance remained unnoticed in the public domain until it caught the attention of young people attending raves during early 1990s. Currently, 2C-B is the psychedelic drug most prevalent in Europe after LSD [5]. The circulation of drugs in unregulated markets increases the risks for people that use drugs and the challenges for forensic toxicologists, epidemiologists, or emergency doctors [6].…”

“…The circulation of drugs in unregulated markets increases the risks for people that use drugs and the challenges for forensic toxicologists, epidemiologists, or emergency doctors [6]. Thus, the development of tools that allow efficient monitoring and accurate identification and that support medical intervention related to psychedelic drugs is considered of utmost relevance [5][6][7].…”

“…The circulation of drugs in unregulated markets increases the risks for people that use drugs and the challenges for forensic toxicologists, epidemiologists, or emergency doctors [6]. Thus, the development of tools that allow efficient monitoring and accurate identification and that support medical intervention related to psychedelic drugs is considered of utmost relevance [5][6][7]. The development of analytical methods for specific analytes with a high degree of selectivity and sensitivity is often a challenging task for chemists and toxicologists due to the increased complexity of sample matrices.…”