A bolt out of the blue: the night of the blue pills

Drug checking interventions can track the nature and size of the discrepancy between self‐report and actual drugs consumed

“…Recent reports of clusters of seriously drug-affected patients overwhelming the resources of Australian hospitals after taking unidentified substances demonstrates the importance of this information for informing public health responses [10,11]. Contemporary drug checking does have a place in drug monitoring, while also providing much-needed opportunities for harm reduction.…”

An early warning system for emerging drugs of concern in the emergency department: Protocol for the Western Australian Illicit Substance Evaluation (WISE) study

“…A fatality from 25I‐NBOMe toxicity has been documented in Western Australia . Clusters of patients have presented to ED in a critical condition; and recent cases of significant toxicity, including deaths in Queensland (October 2016), Victoria (January 2017) and Western Australia (February 2017), have been linked to NBOMe‐type drugs…”

“…Some NPS such as cathinones have been shown to be unstable at room temperature or when refrigerated, and are more readily preserved at −20°C . A previous case series failed to detect suspected NPS and this was postulated to be due to the use of gel‐containing tubes stored refrigerated at 4°C, combined with a delay to analysis …”

“…The pattern of drug use in society is changing, with an ever‐increasing number of novel psychoactive substances (NPS) being detected worldwide . Clusters of severely unwell patients are presenting to the ED, and deaths have occurred . Methamphetamine is perceived to be the dominant problematic illicit drug in Australia; and state and federal governments have called for further research to inform health services and other agencies in responding to methamphetamine and other emerging drug trends .…”

Drug checking to improve monitoring of new psychoactive substances in Australia

“…Drug checking may need to play a part in future public health interventions A s has been reported previously in the Journal, 1 novel psychoactive stimulant drugs are now increasingly prevalent in patients presenting to hospital emergency departments. A further cluster of 11 patients showing confusing hallmarks of sympathomimetic poisoning but no identifiable substance presented to St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney over a public holiday weekend in April 2015.…”