New trends in the cyber and street market of recreational drugs? The case of 2C-T-7 ('Blue Mystic').
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 synthesized in 1986; its desired effects include both a sense of empathy and of well-being. Hallucinations, nausea, anxiety, panic attacks and paranoid ideation are anecdotally reported. According to the different European sources here approached, the availability of 2C-T-7 at street level seems to be currently very low, although one death related to a mono-intoxication with 2C-T-7 has been documented in the USA. With respect to information on 2C-T-7 available online, due to both redundancy and relevance issues the initial identified sample of 360 was reduced to 118 websites. In 14 (11.9%) websites, the detailed description of the 2C-T-7 synthesis was given. Harm Reduction websites appeared significantly earlier in the search engines results' list than Anti drugs (p 0.006) websites. Five (4.2%) websites apparently offered 2C-T-7 for sale. The large body of knowledge available online seems to contrast with small numbers of seizures at street level; an exhaustive web mapping of drug-related issues may be of interest for the clinician. Projects aimed at designing more 'attractive' prevention websites should be planned and future studies should better assess the characteristics of those consumers who take advantage of the online information of hallucinogenic compounds.
Schifano
Fabrizio
F
Division of Mental Health - Addictive Behaviour, St George's Hospital Medical School, University of London, London, UK. fschifan@sgul.ac.uk
Deluca
Paolo
P
Agosti
Lisa
L
Martinotti
Giovanni
G
Corkery
John M
JM
Alex
Baldacchino
B
Caterina
Bonan
B
Heikki
Bothas
B
Raffaella
Brigada
B
Anna
Comacchio
C
Lucia
Di Furia
DF
Dorte
Duarte Rui Eastwood
DR
Magi
Farré
F
Susana
Ferreira
F
Irene
Flores
F
Claude
Guionnet
G
Lisbet
Harder
H
Lene
Stokholm Jensen
SJ
Mauro
Leoni
L
Christopher
Littlejohn
L
Aino
Majava
M
Teuvo
Peltoniemi
P
Milena
Pizza
P
Salman
Rawaf
R
Damien
Robert
R
Angela
Rossi Maria
RM
Francesco
Rovetto
R
Norbert
Scherbaum
S
Holger
Siemann
S
Josep
Tarrago
T
Marta
Torrens
T
Francesco
Zambello
Z
D000339:Affect / Q000187:drug effects; D004645:Empathy; D004739:England; D006213:Hallucinogens / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D006801:Humans; D013287:Illicit Drugs / Q000600:supply & distribution* / Q000633:toxicity; D020407:Internet; D010627:Phenethylamines / Q000600:supply & distribution* / Q000633:toxicity; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control
C487778:2,5-dimethoxy-4-n-propylthiophenethylamine; D006213:Hallucinogens; D013287:Illicit Drugs; D010627:Phenethylamines