An Internet snapshot study to compare the international availability of the novel psychoactive substance methiopropamine

Abstract Context. With the increased use of novel psychoactive substances, there is an increasing availability of these substances from Internet-based suppliers. Methiopropamine, first reported in 2011, is a recreational drug available over the Internet. The aim of this study was to investigate availability and cost of methiopropamine in three different countries: the UK, France, and Canada. Methods. Using the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction Internet snapshot methodology, this study, conducted in June 2013, was undertaken in two different languages: in English (the UK and Canada) and in French (France and Canada), using three Internet searching engines: “google.co.uk”, “google.fr” and “google.ca”. Results. A total of 62 sites were found, most of them were found from the English searches. 45% of the suppliers seemed to originate from the UK. The prices of methiopropamine were comparable between suppliers, no matter which search engine or language was used. The cost of a unit of methiopropamine was inversely related to the purchased quantity, going from 19.49 ± 0.15 GBP per gram for a purchase amount of 500 mg to 3.54 ± 0.13 GBP per gram for a purchase amount of 1 kg. Discussion. The results of the present study demonstrate that the sale of methiopropamine has the potential to reach users across the world. It also appears to support that snapshot studies could be used for toxicovigilance across different countries, by studying the Internet market of novel psychoactive substances. Conclusion. To date, snapshot studies, used to monitor the Internet novel psychoactive substances market, have only been undertaken in Europe. We have shown that the flexibility of this methodology enables comparison of the online activity of drug sellers between different countries and continents and that, at least for methiopropamine, the UK is the predominant source for Internet supply.