Psychoactives
August 20, 2025
Tayler Holborn, Fabrizio Schifano, Emma Smith et al.
1 citation
Numerous individuals suffer from mental health issues including depression and anxiety, resulting in substantial societal burden. Data suggests individuals are choosing to self-medicate with Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS); however, this phenomenon is poorly understood. We aimed to investigate which NPS are being used to self-medicate, evaluate their perceived effectiveness and examine...
International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction
November 28, 2023
Tayler Holborn, Robert L. Page, Fabrizio Schifano et al.
5 citations
Abstract Currently, novel psychoactive substance (NPS) use presents a challenging issue for authorities. To effectively tackle the use of NPS, a deeper understanding of the motivations of those who use NPS is required. Evidence suggests that a subset of NPS users declare their use as ‘self-medicating’; however, there is a paucity of research in this area. The aim of this review is to provide an...
The International journal on drug policy
August 1, 2023
Tayler Holborn, Fabrizio Schifano, Paolo Deluca
15 citations
The proliferation of Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS) presents a challenge for global drug policy. The ease of online drug purchase and the emergence of the dark web have created new avenues for the growth of NPS. Despite the global nature of this issue, limited research has examined motivations of use. These include perceived safety or convenience, an interest in novel pharmacology and...
Human Psychopharmacology Clinical and Experimental
March 1, 2012
Ornella Corazza, Fabrizio Schifano, Pierluigi Simonato et al.
157 citations
On the basis of the material available both in the scientific literature and on the web, this paper aims to provide a pharmacological, chemical and behavioural overview of the novel compound methoxetamine. This is a dissociative drug related to ketamine, with a much longer duration of action and intensity of effects. A critical discussion of the availability of information on the web of...
Current Clinical Pharmacology
May 1, 2011
Ornella Corazza, Fabrizio Schifano, Magı́ Farré et al.
98 citations
Based on the material available in both the scientific literature and on the web, the present paper provides an updated pharmacological, chemical, toxicological and behavioural overview of Bromo-Dragonfly (1-(8-bromobenzo[1,2-b;4,5-b']difuran-4-yl)-2-aminopropane; 'B-fly'). B-Fly is a powerful, long lasting, LSD-like, hallucinogenic drug, which has been associated with a number of acute...
Psychopharmacology
April 2011
Fabrizio Schifano, Antonio Albanese, Suzanne Fergus et al.
Recently, those substances deriving from the active ingredient of the Khat plant, cathinone, have been rising in popularity. Indeed, 4-methylmethcathinone (mephedrone; 'meow meow' and others) has been seen by some as a cheaper alternative to other classified recreational drugs. We aimed here at providing a state-of-the-art review on mephedrone history and prevalence of misuse, chemistry,...
Drugs and Alcohol Today
August 30, 2010
Zoe Davey, Ornella Corazza, Fabrizio Schifano et al.
30 citations
The market in licit recreational drugs is continuing to grow, both in the UK and elsewhere, and the internet has been acknowledged as a key factor in enabling this rapid expansion over the last few years. This is particularly true of the recent rise in popularity of the substance mephedrone (4-methylmethcathinone) and related cathinones. Keeping up to date with these new drugs and emerging...
International Journal of Culture and Mental Health
December 1, 2009
Fabrizio Schifano, Ornella Corazza, Paolo Deluca et al.
79 citations
The aim of the study was to foster the collection and analysis of data from web pages related to information on the consumption, manufacture and sale of Spice products, a brand name for an herbal smoking blend, sold as legal substitute for cannabis. The Google search engine was used to carry out an 8-language qualitative assessment of information available on Spice products in a sample of about...
Gesundheitswesen (Bundesverband der Arzte des Offentlichen Gesundheitsdienstes (Germany))
May 1, 2006
Holger Siemann, Michael Specka, Fabrizio Schifano et al.
10 citations
The German pages of the Internet were searched for the presence of the hallucinogenic herbal drug Salvia divinorum, which is not dealt with in current addiction medicine or psychiatric text books. The investigation is part of the EU sponsored project "Psychonaut" as preparatory work for the development of an Internet-based early warning system. The first 100 websites of the search using "Salvia...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
March 30, 2006
Fabrizio Schifano, John Corkery, Paolo Deluca et al.
96 citations
In the last decade, a global trend of escalating ecstasy (MDMA, MDA, MDEA, MBDB) use was observed. Mentions on medical death certificates, last year's ecstasy use, number of drug offenders, seizures, prices and dosage levels figures were used for this descriptive and correlational study. Figures (1994ñ2003) were taken from the UK General Mortality Registers, from the Home Office Statistical...
Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England)
November 1, 2005
Fabrizio Schifano, Paolo Deluca, Lisa Agosti et al.
70 citations
2C-T-7 ('Blue Mystic'), an illicit compound which shows similarities with MDMA and other designer drugs, has been only occasionally identified in the EU, but discussion on the Internet between experimenters has recently grown significantly. We aimed at collecting together in a review the available information on 2C-T-7, both at the cyber and at the street market level. 2C-T-7 was first...