Assessing the impact of laws controlling the online availability of 25I-NBOMe, AH-7921, MDPV and MXE -outcomes of a semi-automated e-shop monitoring http://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/5432/ Article LJMU has developed LJMU Research Online for users to access the research output of the University more effectively. Copyright © and Moral Rights for the papers on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. Users may download and/or print one copy of any article(s) in LJMU Research Online to facilitate their private study or for non-commercial research. You may not engage in further distribution of the material or use it for any profit-making activities or any commercial gain.The version presented here may differ from the published version or from the version of the record. Please see the repository URL above for details on accessing the published version and note that access may require a subscription. Aims: The indicator of availability has been used in the risk assessment (RA) of new psychoactive substances (NPS). This paper aims to examine the pre-and post-control availability of 25I-NBOMe, AH-7921, MDPV and MXE, which were assessed by the EMCDDA. Methods: Data were collected by a semi-automated software tool (I-TREND SASF) on e-shops in national languages (Czech, French, Dutch, Polish and English) that offered shipping of these compounds into the respective countries; frequency analysis was used. Findings: The number of e-shops selling these substances decreased between III/2014 and XII/2015 (except for AH-7921). Both increases and decreases were found on the country-level for all the compounds (except for an overall decrease for MXE). In one instance an NPS disappeared from this market in 2015 (25I-NBOMe in NL); 25I-NBOMe and AH-7921 in France and AH-7921 in Poland appeared for the first time in 2015. The shops listing AH-7921, 25I-NBOMe and MDPV in XII/2015 ranked higher in terms of ''popularity'' than in III/2014. The IP addresses were more likely to be outside the EU in 2015 than in 2014. Conclusions: We found no evidence that national-level compound bans contributed to the changes in online NPS markets. Indicators of the accessibility, availability, popularity, and IP origin should be considered in RA. Data triangulation with street markets and the darknet is needed as well as more research into the ''displacement'' and ''replacement'' effects of control laws.

Introduction and Aims New psychoactive substances (NPS) represent hundreds of novel compounds. However, the general public might not be familiar with the overarching term NPS. This can result in both under‐ and over‐reporting of NPS use. Design and Methods The study analysed the last‐year prevalence of NPS use in an online survey conducted across I‐TREND project countries (the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Poland). Self‐reported NPS use was assessed within two types of questions—a generic and a checklist question. We analysed prevalence for each question separately, incorporated the free‐text probe ‘other’ that followed them, and combined the two questions into a conservative and an inclusive estimate. Results Including free‐text responses to the ‘other’ categories increased prevalence of NPS use (from 51% to 56% for the checklist question and 25% to 32% for the generic question). Taking an inclusive approach to estimating prevalence (i.e. indicating NPS use in either a generic list or from the checklist) yielded a higher prevalence estimate (60%, 95% confidence interval 58–62%), compared to a more conservative approach in which NPS use had to be affirmed by both questions (27%, 95% confidence interval 26–29%). Discussion and Conclusions Generic questions might lead to notably lower estimates of self‐reported NPS use in comparison to checklists. However, creating relevant checklists is challenging and lengthy survey instruments have limitations. Further surveys might benefit from featuring a combination of the strategies used in this study—a single (generic) question involving a number of locally specific NPSs and a free‐text ‘other’ probe.

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