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Synthetic Opioids as New Psychoactive Substances (NPS)

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Abstract

The last decade has seen a significant increase in synthetic opioids among the new psychoactive substances (NSP). The first two sections of this chapter review the different opioids pertaining to this group and the main effects of the opioid drugs recently incorporated into the NPS or currently in use. The third section examines the precursor and pre-precursors needed to synthesize opioids and how they are regulated. The fourth section analyzes the role of the public Internet, the darknet, cryptocurrencies, and postal services in NPS trading. Finally, the last section presents some challenges these substances pose to prevention and regulation policies and the strategies proposed to face them.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmacobiology, Center for Research and Advanced Studies (Cinvestav), Calzada de los Tenorios, Mexico City, Mexico

    Silvia L. Cruz

  2. Opioids Working Group, Global Studies Seminar, Faculty of Medicine, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico

    Silvia L. Cruz & Raúl Martín-del-Campo

  3. National Institute of Psychiatry Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz (INPRFM), Mexico City, Mexico

    Raúl Martín-del-Campo

  4. International Narcotics Board Control, United Nations, Vienna, Austria

    Raúl Martín-del-Campo

Authors
  1. Silvia L. Cruz
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  2. Raúl Martín-del-Campo
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Correspondence to Silvia L. Cruz .

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  1. Department of Pharmacobiology, Cinvestav, Mexico City, Mexico

    Silvia L. Cruz

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Cruz, S.L., Martín-del-Campo, R. (2022). Synthetic Opioids as New Psychoactive Substances (NPS). In: Cruz, S.L. (eds) Opioids. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-09936-6_16

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