New Psychoactive Substances consumption and their monito- ring during Covid-19 pandemic

Di Trana, A; La Maida, N

Abstract: Currently, the world is facing an unprecedent change of everyday life, due to the Covid-19 pandemic that has been affecting all the nations for more than one year. The public health systems were restructured in all the countries as a response to the constant emergency status, ne-glecting some services like toxicological analyses. In this scenario, the current spread of the New Psychoactive Substances is less controlled than before and the data on its expected mutation come from seizures analyses. Where the global distribution of drugs of abuse was affected by the restriction, fentanyl seizures did not drop during the pandemic. Moreover, new synthesis of fentanyl analogues resulted in new toxic adulterants as by products. Furthermore, diversion of benzodiazepines and new designer benzodiazepines were reported during the pandemic period. In this scenario, the scientific community and the international agencies should tighten their collaboration in order to monitor the emerging of new unknown substances.