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 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?
The Drug and Substance Checking Bill currently moving through parliament marks another milestone in New Zealand’s shift away from criminalisation and towards harm reduction.
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.
Seized counterfeit hydrocodone tablets.
Drug Enforcement Administration/Handout via Reuters
The hyperbole used to describe the dangers of new drugs can be counterproductive. Rather than containing their spread, the media can act as advertisers for emerging substances.
Packets of synthetic cannabinoids illegally sold in New York City.
Sebastien Malo/Reuters
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.
Legal doesn’t mean safe.
Image of drugs via Shutterstock.
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
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
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…
Only a small proportion of Australian drug users buy their drugs online.
Shutterstock
Fears that online drug marketplaces are flooding communities with illicit drugs may be unfounded, according to the first Australian survey of such websites. While the survey found the number of online…
High demand for cannabis has led some people down the ‘synthetic drugs’ route - but are these drugs actually trusted by the users?
Schorle
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…