Detecting risk level in individuals misusing fentanyl utilizing posts from an online community on Reddit

Garg, Sanjana; Taylor, Jordan; Sherief, Mai El; Kasson, Erin; Aledavood, Talayeh; Riordan, Raven; Kaiser, Nina; Cavazos‐Rehg, Patricia A.; Choudhury, Munmun De

doi:10.1016/j.invent.2021.100467

Cited by 27 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 72 publications

(77 reference statements)

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“…2019 availability of fentanyl, fentanyl analogues, and other non-pharmaceutical opioids on cryptomarkets [ 1065 ]; 2020 web analytics and predictive models study of illicit online pharmacies [ 1066 ]; 2021 machine learning classification models to identify fentanyl risk [ 1067 ]; multi-view attention-based deep learning system to distil large-scall datsets collected from online platforms (Facebook) to detect content associated with marijuana [ 1068 ]; extraction of open-source data on ecstasy pills from the website www.pillreports.net for intelligence purposes [ 1069 ]; analysis of 64, 420, 376 drug-related posts made between January 2011 and December 2018 on Reddit using diachronic word embeddings of substances discussed on social media [ 1070 ].…”

Section: Miscellaneous Topicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interpol Review of Drug Analysis 2019-2022

Love

Jones

2023

Forensic Science International: Synergy

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Section: Miscellaneous Topicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interpol Review of Drug Analysis 2019-2022

Love

Jones

2023

Forensic Science International: Synergy

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“…Studies, n (%) Description Reasons mentioned [19][20][21]23,25,[28][29][30][31]33,35,[37][38][39]42,45,49,[52][53][54][55][56]60,65,72,73] 26 (43) The anonymous nature of Reddit enables a more candid and open discussion of stigmatized topics.…”

Section: Referencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating Substance Use via Reddit: Systematic Scoping Review

Chi,

Chen

2023

J Med Internet Res

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Background Reddit’s (Reddit Inc) large user base, diverse communities, and anonymity make it a useful platform for substance use research. Despite a growing body of literature on substance use on Reddit, challenges and limitations must be carefully considered. However, no systematic scoping review has been conducted on the use of Reddit as a data source for substance use research. Objective This review aims to investigate the use of Reddit for studying substance use by examining previous studies’ objectives, reasons, limitations, and methods for using Reddit. In addition, we discuss the implications and contributions of previous studies and identify gaps in the literature that require further attention. Methods A total of 7 databases were searched using keyword combinations including Reddit and substance-related keywords in April 2022. The initial search resulted in 456 articles, and 227 articles remained after removing duplicates. All included studies were peer reviewed, empirical, available in full text, and pertinent to Reddit and substance use, and they were all written in English. After screening, 60 articles met the eligibility criteria for the review, with 57 articles identified from the initial database search and 3 from the ancestry search. A codebook was developed, and qualitative content analysis was performed to extract relevant evidence related to the research questions. Results The use of Reddit for studying substance use has grown steadily since 2015, with a sharp increase in 2021. The primary objective was to identify tendencies and patterns in various types of substance use discussions (52/60, 87%). Reddit was also used to explore unique user experiences, propose methodologies, investigate user interactions, and develop interventions. A total of 9 reasons for using Reddit to study substance use were identified, such as the platform’s anonymity, its widespread popularity, and the explicit topics of subreddits. However, 7 limitations were noted, including the platform’s low representativeness of the general population with substance use and the lack of demographic information. Most studies use application programming interfaces for data collection and quantitative approaches for analysis, with few using qualitative approaches. Machine learning algorithms are commonly used for natural language processing tasks. The theoretical, methodological, and practical implications and contributions of the included articles are summarized and discussed. The most prevalent practical implications are investigating prevailing topics in Reddit discussions, providing recommendations for clinical practices and policies, and comparing Reddit discussions on substance use across various sources. Conclusions This systematic scoping review provides an overview of Reddit’s use as a data source for substance use research. Although the limitations of Reddit data must be considered, analyzing them can be useful for understanding patterns and user experiences related to substance use. Our review also highlights gaps in the literature and suggests avenues for future research.

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“…For instance, Holt et al (2008) found that in forums for sex worker clients, 70% of the posts were related to sex work and included detailed information about identifying and soliciting sex workers at specific times and locations. Nevertheless, more recent research using larger websites catering to multiple interests found smaller percentages of relevant posts when performing content analysis to identify particular themes (Garg et al, 2021;Spadaro et al, 2022). These research teams analyzed fentanyl-related subreddits on Reddit, finding only 3% to 25% of the content of subreddits was directly related to fentanyl.…”

Section: Limitations and Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

An examination of harm reduction strategies in Oxycodone and Adderall buyer feedback on AlphaBay

Logie,

Pugliese,

Acevedo

2023

Criminology & Public Policy

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Research summaryDarknet marketplaces (DNMs) are global digital marketplaces used primarily to buy and sell illicit drugs online. High rates of adulterated substances have contributed to the creation of harm reduction policies by DNM administrators to address growing rates of overdose worldwide. This paper explores the extent to which harm reduction occurs in buyer feedback of Adderall and Oxycodone purchased on AlphaBay and how these comments are impacted by AlphaBay's administrator‐led “harm reduction” policy. This study finds that harm reduction strategies are present in buyer feedback of Oxycodone and Adderall pills, but AlphaBay's policy has very little impact on the preexisting harm reduction communication within buyer feedback.Policy implicationsInternational policy proposals have placed emphasis on addressing the overdose crisis through harm reduction programs that provide people who use drugs with the necessary services and resources to buy and use drugs safely. There have been very few proposals that have considered how these programs can address the unique setting of buying and using drugs purchased on DNMs. Communication occurring among DNM buyers reveals how harm reduction strategies are being employed by users purchasing drugs from DNMs. In particular, these findings offer insight into the shared experiences of drug buyers in anonymous settings and the strategies they are using to protect one another from overdose and other unwanted side effects often caused by adulterated substances. Understanding these strategies highlights the ways in which street‐based harm reduction programs can extend their services to online environments to assist buyers with making safe and informed decisions when using substances purchased online.

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Detecting risk level in individuals misusing fentanyl utilizing posts from an online community on Reddit

Cited by 27 publications

References 72 publications

Interpol Review of Drug Analysis 2019-2022

Interpol Review of Drug Analysis 2019-2022

Investigating Substance Use via Reddit: Systematic Scoping Review

An examination of harm reduction strategies in Oxycodone and Adderall buyer feedback on AlphaBay

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