title: Drugs on the web; the Psychonaut 2002 EU project.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Only a few formal assessments of websites with drug-related contents have been carried out. We aimed here at fostering collection and analysis of data from web pages related to information on consumption, manufacture and sales of psychoactive substances.
  
  
  METHODS
  An 8-language, two-engine, assessment of the information available in a purposeful sample of 1633 unique websites was carried out.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A pro-drug and a harm reduction approach were evident, respectively, in 18% and 10% of websites accessed. About 1 in 10 websites offered either psychoactive compounds for sale or detailed data on drugs' synthesis/extraction procedures. Information on a number of psychoactive substances and on unusual drugs' combinations not found in the Medline was elicited.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This represents the first review which is both comprehensive and multilingual of the online available information on psychoactive compounds. Health professionals may need to be aware of the web being a new drug resource for information and possibly purchase.
authors.affiliation: Division of Mental Health-Addictive Behaviour, St. George's, University of London, Cranmer Terrace, London, SW17 0RE, UK.
authors.forename: Fabrizio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Schifano
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Deluca
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Baldacchino
authors.forename: Teuvo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Peltoniemi
authors.forename: Norbert
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Scherbaum
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Torrens
authors.forename: Magi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Farre
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Flores
authors.forename: Mariangela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rossi
authors.forename: Dorte
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Eastwood
authors.forename: Claude
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Guionnet
authors.forename: Salman
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rawaf
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Agosti
authors.forename: Lucia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Di Furia
authors.forename: Raffaella
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Brigada
authors.forename: Aino
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Majava
authors.forename: Holger
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Siemann
authors.forename: Mauro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Leoni
authors.forename: Antonella
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tomasin
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rovetto
authors.forename: A Hamid
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Ghodse
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D006801:Humans; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval / Q000379:methods*; D020407:Internet; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000600:supply & distribution / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D011619:Psychotropic Drugs