New psychoactive substances and British drug policy: A view from the cyber-psychonauts

Abstract

Aims: (i) To collect data on the consumption patterns, purchase patterns and motivations of the online NPS community, and (ii) engage this specific group of NPS users in an exploration of recent policy developments in the UK focusing on their experiences of new legislative controls and the perceived harms they may cause, and eliciting their suggestions for future policy developments in this area. Methods: We employed an exploratory online methodology comprising a survey and participatory online research designed to interact and engage with experienced users of NPS. Findings: The findings of our small-scale exploratory study illustrate that what we term the cyber-psychonauts are well equipped to make a valuable contribution to NPS policy debates in general, and are ideally placed to report on the effects of recent policy changes on NPS-related harms in particular. The majority of NPS users in our study supported the introduction of a regulated market for NPS, which would not criminalise users and which would focus on the reduction of NPS-related harm. Conclusions: We argue that the cyber-psychonauts are well placed to contribute to NPS-related drug policy debates and, furthermore, that there may be a role for them in disseminating emerging information about NPS-related harm.

• Harm reduction
• NPS
• policy
• users-view
• youth and drugs

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their very helpful and insightful comments on this paper.

Declaration of interest

Authors' declare no conflicts of interest to this report.

Notes

¹We informed users that the data collected for the project would be used for academic purposes and that names/handles and website names would not be disclosed.

²A total of 183 participants participated in our survey but only 93 participants completed the entire survey including the final qualitative questions. A total of nine participants took part in the participatory online research exercise.

³K hole is a slang term often used by ketamine users to describe a state they enter after having taken relatively high doses of the drug where they become somewhat disoriented and may even feel extremely disembodied or disassociated from their bodies.

⁴Although it should be noted that TCDOs have been applied very rarely and to drugs that have not really featured in the mainstream press.

⁵The emphasis our participants placed on harm reduction as a desirable NPS policy objective stands in stark contrast to the current abstinence-based recovery ideology evident in Coalition government policy and in much local level drug service delivery. It was not clear from our findings if the cyber-psychonauts realised they were swimming against the policy tide.