Daan van der Gouwe Drug Information & Monitoring System (DIMS) Dept Drug Monitoring & Policy

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1 Purity, adulteratiandpriceof drugs bought lineversus off linein the Netherlands Daan van der Gouwe Drug Informati & Mitoring System (DIMS) Dept Drug Mitoring & Policy

2 Whatis DIMS? Improving Mental Health by Sharing Knowledge

3 Ld NPS cference, November 2018

4 Assessing quality and price of drugs bought line Source: DIMS database Ld NPS cference, November 2018

5 Background Online drug markets flourish and csumers have high expectatis of line quality and drug value. Percepti of better quality, but no clear evidence for this. Harmful, since you do not know what you buy, and potentially csume. Percepti of lower line prices Ld NPS cference, November 2018

6 Few studies quality/price Global Drug Survey 2015 Purity dark net market products higher (self-reports, perceived purity) Internatial Drug Testing Service Energy Ctrol Most samples ctained advertised ingredient Most samples were of high purity (213 samples from Europe, US, Australia, China, Canada and Argentina, hampering a direct comparis with local street-level markets) Ld NPS cference, November 2018

7 Aims i) describe line drug purchases, and Ld NPS cference, November 2018

8 Aims i) describe line drug purchases, and ii) compare line with purchased drugs regarding purity, adulterati and price. Ld NPS cference, November 2018

9 Design and setting Comparis of lab analyses of 32,663 drug csumer samples purchased between January 2013 and January 2016, of which 928 were bought line. Informati from customers valuable Part of testing procedure: informati is shared about: name of the substance ( sold as? ) Price paid for the sample Product is already used? If so, what were effects? Why having this sample tested at all? Sourcing locati (Bought where?) Online: self-reported by csumer Ld NPS cference, November 2018

10 Design andsetting Online = specific name of sourcing locati + the internet/ somewhere line Online category further divided in 1) web shop (google-indexed); 2) cryptomarket; 3) unspecified/ the internet / line Offline = self reported + in case of no informati at all Underreporting of line samples The samples were lab-analysed for their ctent, using gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC MS) and liquid chromatography with diode array detecti (LC DAD). Setting: The Netherlands. Ld NPS cference, November 2018

11 Methods Chemical purity of powders (or dosage per tablet ) Adulterati ly advertised drug advertised + other no advertised drug Price per gram, blotter or Ld NPS cference, November 2018

12 Findings The proporti of drug samples purchased line increased from 1.4% in 2013 to 4.1% by the end of The frequency varied widely, from a maximum of 6 % for ctrolled, traditial substances to over a third for new psychoactive substances (NPS) (4-FA, 5/6-APB and MXE). Ld NPS cference, November 2018

13 Bought line Bought % bought line Ecstasy tablets MDMA powders Amphetamine powders Cocaine powders LSD C B tablets + powders 4 FAtablets + powders /6 APB MXE ctrolled traditial substances were rarely purchased from Google-indexed webshops, whereas n-ctrolled or recently ctrolled NPS were rarely purchased from cryptomarkets. Ld NPS cference, November 2018

14 Bought line Bought % bought line Ecstasy tablets MDMA powders Amphetamine powders Cocaine powders LSD C B tablets + powders 4 FAtablets + powders /6 APB MXE ctrolled traditial substances were rarely purchased from Google-indexed webshops, whereas n-ctrolled or recently ctrolled NPS were rarely purchased from cryptomarkets. Ld NPS cference, November 2018

15 % samples bought line 59% 26% 15% Ctrolled: ecstasy 1% Web shops Cryptomarkets cocaine 1% Unspecified MDMA 2%, amphetamine1% LSD 5%,2C-B 6% NPS: 4-FA 32% 5/6-APB 48% methoxetamine54% Ld NPS cference, November 2018

16 Purity No large differences line vs. although a trend is visible indicating higher line purity Small but statistically significant differences for: line - Ecstasy 131 mg 121 mg p=.05 - MDMA 45% 61% p=.02-4 FA 59% 52% p=.001-2c B 21 mg 10 mg p=.05 Ld NPS cference, November 2018

17 Adulterati compositi per substance (%) Only advertised drug (%) Advertised drug+other (%) No advertised drug (%) 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Ecstasy XTC MDMA MDMA Amphetamine Amph Cocaine Coke LSD LSD 2C-B 2C-B 4-FA* 4-FA 5/6-APB 6-ABP MXE MXE 2C-B* 2C-B 4-FA 4-FA* tabletsᴵᴵ powders powders powders powders powders powders powderstablets tablets X2=2.3 X2=1.6 X2=0.2 X2=2.3 X2=3.1 X2=0.4 X2=8.3 X2=5.0 X2=0.5 X2=6,7 X2=5,9 Ld NPS cference, November 2018 p=.3 p=.5 p=.9 p=.3 p=.2 p=.8 p.02 p=.08 p=.8 p=.04 p=.05

18 compositi per substance (%) Adulterati Only advertised drug (%) Advertised drug+other (%) No advertised drug (%) 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Ecstasy XTC MDMA MDMA Amphetamine Amph Cocaine Coke LSD LSD 2C-B 2C-B 4-FA* 4-FA 5/6-APB 6-ABP MXE MXE 2C-B* 2C-B 4-FA 4-FA* tabletsᴵᴵ powders powders powders powders powders powders powderstablets tablets X2=2.3 X2=1.6 X2=0.2 X2=2.3 X2=3.1 X2=0.4 X2=8.3 X2=5.0 X2=0.5 X2=6,7 X2=5,9 Ld NPS cference, November 2018 p=.3 p=.5 p=.9 p=.3 p=.2 p=.8 p.02 p=.08 p=.8 p=.04 p=.05

19 Price % +16% n.s % % +23% * +17% 0 line ( ) ( ) Ld NPS cference, November 2018

20 Cclusis Dutch drug users increasingly purchase drugs line, NPS in particular. Purity and adulterati did not vary csiderably between drugs purchased line and for most substances, while line prices were mostly higher than prices. Ld NPS cference, November 2018

21 Cclusis Our findings neither cfirm nor refute the good reputati of line drug quality, at least in NL. If people buy drugs line, more often NPS than traditial drugs (e.g. more 4-FA than ecstasy) % unadulterated samples NPS than ctrolled drugs (except + LSD, difficult to adulterate after producti) Ld NPS cference, November 2018

22 Results are country specific: Cclusis Local street drug prices in NL are usually lower and drug quality is usually higher compared to other countries within and outside EU. Even though: line drug markets will increase given its many advantages for the drug csumer. Drug users are willing to pay a little extra whereas quality may not be better but also not worse than at street-level Ld NPS cference, November 2018

23 Up fordiscussi Advisable for drug and preventi professials and harm reducti NGO s to expand their territory to line markets. Avenues of further research include: weighing law enforcement interventis against their potential interference with mitoring and harm reducti efforts, and the (potential) health gains of ctrolling new psychoactive substances against the potential sideeffect of creating a more adulterated market. Ld NPS cference, November 2018

24 Ld NPS cference, November 2018

25 Ld NPS cference, November 2018

26 Daan van der Gouwe Ld NPS cference, November 2018