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Articles on Synthetic drugs

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Neptune’s Fix, a tianeptine-containing “Elixir” as it’s labeled, is one of the most common of these products. U.S. Food and Drug Administration

Popularly known as ‘gas station heroin,’ tianeptine is being sold as a dietary supplement – with deadly outcomes

Tianeptine is dangerous as an active ingredient, but the products containing it have no quality control and could be contaminated with metals, microorganisms or other undisclosed drugs.
Horseshoe crabs in spawning season at Reeds Beach, N.J., on June 13, 2023. AP Photo/Matt Rourke

Horseshoe crab blood is vital for testing intravenous drugs, but new synthetic alternatives could mean pharma won’t bleed this unique species dry

Horseshoe crabs play a unique role in medicine, but they’re also ecologically important in their home waters along the Atlantic coast. Can regulators balance the needs of humans and nature?
Since 2009 an increasing number of drugs have emerged that are designed to circumvent the law and are cheap to produce. Photographee.eu/Shutterstock

Is Australia really being flooded by new killer drugs?

There is a potential for significant harm in Australia if we don’t have adequate systems in place to monitor our drug markets and respond rapidly when specific dangers are detected.
Packets of synthetic cannabinoids illegally sold in New York City. Sebastien Malo/Reuters

Labs make new, dangerous synthetic cannabinoid drugs faster than we can ban them

Synthetic cannabinoids – drugs that mimic the psychoactive effect of cannabis – have been linked to injuries and deaths. And when one is banned, another rises to take its place.
Younger Chinese revellers are seeking new highs. Ding Zhou

China’s drug takers are chasing newer highs

The close of 2013 saw a drugs bust of cinematic proportions in China. Part of Operation Thunder, more than 3,000 armed police with a cavalry of helicopters, motorboats and police dogs busted the village…
A wave of new mind-altering drugs has appeared – a wave that won’t recede. 1000watt

This psychoactive drugs trip isn’t working

Recreational drug use has been with us forever, and so have the challenges that this use brings to medicine and society. But the nature of the modern drug scene has changed to such an extent that the health…
Unlike LSD, which has a relatively low toxicity profile, NBOMe drugs carry a number of additional risks. Image from shutterstock.com

Explainer: what is NBOMe?

NBOMe is an abbreviation for N-methoxybenzyl. While NBOMe is often referred to as a drug, it’s not a singular drug but a series of drugs that contain an N-methoxybenzyl group. The most common NBOMes that…
High demand for cannabis has led some people down the ‘synthetic drugs’ route - but are these drugs actually trusted by the users? Schorle

Synthetic cannabis: even regular drug users don’t trust it

For decades, cannabis has remained the most popular illicit drug among Australians. The strong demand among cannabis and other drug users for methods to evade detection and legal trouble has made online…

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