Novel psychoactive substance use in the European Union
s Drug and Alcohol Dependence 156 (2015) e102 e182 e165 Novel psychoactive substance use in the European Union Scott P. Novak1, Anders Hakansson2, Jens Reimer5, Jose Martinez Raga4, Jennifer Lorvick3 1 Behavioral Epidemiology, RTI International, Research Triangle Park, NC, United States 2 Division of Psychiatry, U of Lund, Lund, Sweden 3 RTI International, RTI, San Francisco, CA, United States 4 Teaching Unit of Psychiatry and Psychological Medicine, U of Valencia, Valencia, Spain 5 Centre for Interdisciplinary Addiction Research, Hamburg Medical, Hamburg, Germany Aims: Novel psychoactive substances (e.g. bath salts, Krokodil, synthetic marijuana) are synthetic, semi synthetic or natural compounds, often advertised and sold as 'legal' alternatives to illicit drugs. The current study is among the first population based studies in the EU to identify their prevalence and characteristics. Methods:General population surveys,modeled after theUnited States' National Survey of Drug Use and Health, were conducted by RTI International in seven European countries (29 metropolitan strata, sample n=22,057) in 2014. Self report (in English or native language) surveys among persons aged 12 or older were collected andweighted to achieve country specific representative estimates. Results: The lifetime estimates for NPS ranged from 0.7% (Denmark) to 2.2% (Great Britain) with a mean of 1.8% and a population estimate of 5.5 million. An estimated 500,000 (0.5% persons reported past yearNPS. Controlling for country, latent classmodels indicated six classes of past year illicit drug use, with NPS present in a homogenous class characterized by males (AOR=2.5, p< .001) whites at higher risk relative to black/African descent (AOR=1.6, p< .05) and Asian (AOR=3.3, p< .001) Youth (ages 18 24) were at higher risk for NPS relative to those ages 12 17 (AOR=1.5, p< .001) and 35+ (AOR=1.6, p< .001) Mood/anxiety disorders conferred higher risk of NPS compared to those with no disorder (AOR=2.5, p< .001) or subthreshold symptom levels (AOR=1.6, p< .001) NPS users also reported a greater use of social media. Conclusions: With the increasing erosion of geographic boundaries and increased increased communication, studies are desperately needed to identify the international landscape of drug use.Additionalwavesareplanned to identify trends in transmission patterns between countries and population sub groups. Financial support: Shire, NIH, RTI International, the European Drug Union. http:/dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2015.07.448 Effects of withdrawal from chronic nicotine on emotional and cognitive behaviors in adult and adolescent mice Paul A. Nucero2, Erica Holliday1, Munir G. Kutlu1, Thomas Gould1, Ellen Unterwald3 1 Psychology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, United States 2 Center for Substance Abuse Research, Temple University School of Medicine, Ambler, PA, United States 3 Center for Substance Abuse Research, Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA,