title: Medicine or ecstasy? The importance of the logo.
abstract: Some pharmaceutical tablets have an appearance that resembles that of ecstasy (a logo and often a name referring to it, a given shape and/or a colour). These are sometimes sold in the street as 'ecstasy'. In order to assess the knowledge of this phenomenon, surveys were conducted among designer drug users (DDUsers), pharmacists and pharmaceutical firms. Three surveys were conducted: the first one was conducted among DDUsers by means of an anonymous questionnaire; the second one consisted of a 1-month postal survey within a network of 155 community pharmacies in the Aquitaine region, Southwestern France and the third one consisted of a postal questionnaire sent to 71 pharmaceutical firms. Nineteen users, 77 pharmacists and 25 pharmaceutical firms participated in the surveys. All DDUsers knew the existence of what they call ecstasy 'swindles', but less than one quarter of the pharmacists and one third of pharmaceutical firms were aware of the potential recreational and involuntary misuse of medicines. The phenomenon of 'swindle' in the illicit market is not new. However, the sale of medicines because of their appearance or logo seems to be quite rare. In order to limit this diversion, prevention should be reinforced. In addition, recommendations on the appearance of medicine tablets should be set up by regulatory agencies in charge of medicine approval.
authors.affiliation: Centre de pharmacodépendance, Département de pharmacologie, Bordeaux, France. amelie.daveluy@u-bordeaux2.fr <amelie.daveluy@u-bordeaux2.fr>
authors.forename: Amélie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Daveluy
authors.forename: Ghada
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Miremont-Salamé
authors.forename: Anne-Cécile
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Rahis
authors.forename: Jean-Michel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Delile
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bégaud
authors.forename: Jean-Pierre
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Gachie
authors.forename: Françoise
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Haramburu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003415:Crime / Q000517:prevention & control; D004345:Drug Industry / Q000379:methods; D004335:Drug and Narcotic Control; D005260:Female; D005602:France; D006801:Humans; D013287:Illicit Drugs / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D008297:Male; D018817:N-Methyl-3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D010595:Pharmacists / Q000523:psychology; D055553:Prescription Drugs / Q000592:standards; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000517:prevention & control; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013607:Tablets; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D013287:Illicit Drugs; D055553:Prescription Drugs; D013607:Tablets; D018817:N-Methyl-3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine