The International journal on drug policy
November 1, 2013
Marie Claire Van Hout, Tim Bingham
211 citations
The online drug marketplace Silk Road, operating anonymously on the Deep Web since 2011, attracts users primarily for reasons of curiosity, concerns about street drug quality and personal safety, product variety, anonymous transactions, and convenient delivery. Based on systematic online observations, monitoring of discussion threads over four months, and anonymous online interviews with 20 adult users, most participants were male, in professional employment or tertiary education, with drug use histories ranging from 18 months to 25 years. Favorite drugs included MDMA, 2C-B, mephedrone, nitrous oxide, ketamine, cannabis, and cocaine. Vendor selection relied on trust, transaction speed, stealth, and product quality. A minority reported customs seizures, and many described a displacement away from traditional street and closed drug markets toward Silk Road.
Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England)
June 1, 2020
Annemieke Benschop, Róbert Urbán, Máté Kapitány-fövény et al.
35 citations
A new questionnaire, the New Psychoactive Substance Use Motives Measure (NPSMM), was developed and validated across six EU countries with 3,023 users from three subgroups: socially marginalized individuals, nightlife attendees, and online community members. Factor analysis revealed five consistent motives for using new psychoactive substances: coping, enhancement, social, conformity, and expansion. Motives varied by user group: marginalized users scored higher on coping and conformity, nightlife groups on social motives, and online community users on expansion motives. Different types of NPS were linked to different motives—expansion with psychedelics and enhancement with stimulants—while coping, social, and conformity motives were more tied to user groups. The NPSMM is a valid tool for measuring these motives.
Frontiers in Psychiatry
January 1, 2024
Michael Bayrhammer-Savel, Martin Ortner, Marie Claire Van Hout et al.
6 citations
People in prison have a fundamental right to health care that matches community standards, which includes access to effective medications for mental health conditions. Standard antidepressants often fail for those with depression and high suicide risk, a common problem in prisons. This article argues that denying effective treatment, such as ketamine therapy, may violate human rights under international law and UN standards. The authors discuss the psychiatric and legal arguments for and against using ketamine in prisons, noting potential benefits for severe depression and suicidality but also risks like unknown long-term effects and abuse. They conclude that more research is urgently needed given the lack of data on ketamine's use in prison populations.
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
January 1, 2016
Evelyn Hearne, Marie Claire Van Hout
Dissociative novel psychoactive substances like methoxetamine, 3-MeO-PCP, and methoxphenidine are used as substitutes for illicit ketamine. An analysis of 90 user trip reports and 115 forum threads from seven drug fora, drawn from 3,476 screened threads, revealed five themes and 43 categories describing how online communities share communal folk pharmacology—perceptions of risk, informed knowledge, and indigenous harm-reduction practices. The findings suggest that forum activity disseminates and exchanges harm-reduction tactics among users. Further monitoring of Internet drug fora is recommended to explore variations in these practices and to inform public online health education and drug prevention.
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
January 1, 2015
Marie Claire Van Hout, Evelyn Hearne
Methoxphenidine (MXP), an NMDA antagonist marketed in 2013 as a legal replacement for methoxetamine (MXE), diphenidine, and ketamine, produces a dissociative and stimulant wave that can last for days. Analysis of seven self-reported experiences and 28 thread discussions from public Internet fora, using the Empirical Phenomenological Psychological method, identified five themes and 61 categories. Acute side-effects include hypertension and seizures; chronic effects include long-term memory loss and limb numbness. A sense of empowerment occurs in the afterglow. Internet drug fora facilitate information exchange, informed consumerism, and indigenous harm reduction, supporting pre- and post-purchase decision making.