Aim: Supervising drug abuse trend is very important and help government projected to take preventive measures in implementing early intervention. This research provided the recent prevalence of new psychoactive substances (NPS) in Taiwan. Methods: The Taiwan government has established a drug abuse supervising mechanism, which all certification analytical agencies or institutions reported the test results of seized specimens via the “Drug Abuse Test Report System” (UDARS) to the Food and Drug Administration (TFDA), Ministry of Health and Welfare. To get an insight to status of NPS abuse patterns and epidemic trends in Taiwan, we analyzed the data from the UDARS between 2008 and 2022. Results: During this time-period over 1,000,000 sample and 179 different NPS were identified in seized specimens. Furthermore, the majority NPS category of all samples during this time frame were shifting from phencyclidine-type substances in 2008 to synthetic cathinones in 2022. The stimulants were the most popular NPS in recent years. Greater than 50 different synthetic cathinones were confirmed in seized sample, with the most prevalent compound in 2022 being 4-methylmethcathinone (mephedrone, meow meow). Conclusions: Our results provided an evidence-based data analysis and trend of NPS in Taiwan. These data will be useful what we can do to response activities to avoid health problems by NPS in Taiwan.
Date:
2024-07-01
Relation:
Drug and Alcohol Dependence. 2024 Jul 01;260(Suppl.):Meeting Abstract 110357.
