"Across a unique field survey of authorities in targeted regions, a large-scale field survey of the same regions, and an experiment conducted online, results consistently showed that higher perceived governmental support for comprehensive drug policies inclusive of harm reduction measures would lead to increased public trust in local government. This medium-sized effect was evident in both the assessments of local authorities and the self-reported perception of community residents.

"Comprehensive substance use services should include not only behavioral interventions to reduce substance use but also harm reduction services aimed at mitigating the adverse effects of substance use [23, 24]. For example, medication therapies, such as administering opioid agonists like methadone and buprenorphine, alleviate withdrawal symptoms and enhance treatment compliance.

"Although harm reduction interventions for substance use disorder have been repeatedly shown to reduce the risk of overdose, mortality, and drug-related crime [1, 2], the journey to their acceptance and implementation has been fraught with challenges.

"Derived from, and thus similar to, the 2C class of amphetamines made popular by the late self-experimenting chemist Alexander Shulgin, NBOMes are now used recreationally by adolescents and young adults for their sympathomimetic and serotonergic effects. Often sold in microgram doses on blotter paper and marketed as “legal” or “natural LSD,” NBOMes are also available as liquid, powder, capsules, tablets, or sprays [2].

"In 2010, a potent new synthetic hallucinogen known as “N-Bomb” emerged on the international recreational drug market [1]. First synthesized in 2003 by German chemist Ralph Heim, 2-(4-Iodo-2,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-N-[(2-methoxyphenyl)methyl]ethanamine, or 25I-NBOMe, was discovered to be a potent serotonin 2A (5-HT2A) receptor agonist [2].

"Lifetime use of MDMA, which also mainly affects men (11.7% compared to 4.9% of women), rose sharply between 2017 and 2023 (increasing from 5.0% to 8.2%), and its current use has doubled (from 1.0% to 1.8%), 25–34-year-olds being the most likely to have tried it (13.8%). This increase was proportionally greater for women (0.6% to 1.3%) than men (1.5% to 2.4%)."

"In the present study, the overall percentage of drivers who tested positive for ketamine in a roadside oral fluid test was 2.6%. This percentage was higher than that described by Gish et al.

"In France, a study conducted by the French Addictovigilance Network clearly showed a 2.5‐fold increase in the number of ketamine users among people with substance use disorders between 2012 and 2021 [9]. This finding is even more alarming given that the number of daily users, users with distress at discontinuation and users with addiction were also found to be increasing.

"Ketamine or ketamine hydrochloride (2‐[2‐chlorophenyl]‐2‐methylamino‐cyclohexan‐1‐one) is a non‐barbiturate dissociative anaesthetic derived from phencyclidine synthetized in 1962 by the Parke‐Davis Pharmaceutical Company US [1].

"Using cannabis- and tobacco-related keywords as search parameters on selected dark web markets, a total of 3,074 unique selling listing posts were collected from Archetyp, Incognito, Royal, and Wethenorth. After manually annotating to confirm listings were selling-related posts for cannabis and other illicit substances, we identified 2,954 (96.10% of the entire dataset) selling posts analyzed for specific product characteristics.