INTRODUCTION OF PUBLIC HEALTH CONCERN
A designer drug is an analog of an illegal drug that has been modified structurally and/or functionally such that it can be sold in the US because the chemical structure of the substance no longer matches a known controlled substance (Wohlfarth 2010). People, especially teens, can purchase these “new psychoactive substances” (NPS) online and from friends, without an understanding of what they are actually taking. Deaths due to designer drugs happen, and often the victims are unsuspecting, uninformed young adults just looking to have fun and get high. When these new, previously unrecognized drugs are synthesized and widely distributed to young people across the country, affecting their safety, it constitutes a threat to the health of the public. In the case of a tragic drug overdose/drug related death, not only is the victim and their family affected, but their entire community. The unexpected, untimely deaths across states and the entire country caused by designer drugs is absolutely a public health issue.
Knowledge of exactly what compounds someone took in the unfortunate …show more content…
Current research regarding NBOMes testing will likely improve ability of the public health laboratories to understand this specific drug, particularly if the testing method described here is implemented widely. Overall, with regard to the specific problem of NBOMe use, improved testing for 251-NBOMe will undoubtedly have a positive effect. However, generally speaking, new individual methods for detecting specific drugs in a sample may or may not have a large impact on the overall synthetic drug usage and prevalence in the state and country, depending on how rapidly new drug trends
A designer drug is an analog of an illegal drug that has been modified structurally and/or functionally such that it can be sold in the US because the chemical structure of the substance no longer matches a known controlled substance (Wohlfarth 2010). People, especially teens, can purchase these “new psychoactive substances” (NPS) online and from friends, without an understanding of what they are actually taking. Deaths due to designer drugs happen, and often the victims are unsuspecting, uninformed young adults just looking to have fun and get high. When these new, previously unrecognized drugs are synthesized and widely distributed to young people across the country, affecting their safety, it constitutes a threat to the health of the public. In the case of a tragic drug overdose/drug related death, not only is the victim and their family affected, but their entire community. The unexpected, untimely deaths across states and the entire country caused by designer drugs is absolutely a public health issue.
Knowledge of exactly what compounds someone took in the unfortunate …show more content…
Current research regarding NBOMes testing will likely improve ability of the public health laboratories to understand this specific drug, particularly if the testing method described here is implemented widely. Overall, with regard to the specific problem of NBOMe use, improved testing for 251-NBOMe will undoubtedly have a positive effect. However, generally speaking, new individual methods for detecting specific drugs in a sample may or may not have a large impact on the overall synthetic drug usage and prevalence in the state and country, depending on how rapidly new drug trends