2016 / 16 / 2

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Monitoring of Discussion Forums

on New Psychoactive Substances
in the Czech Republic – Content
and Trends

DRÁPALOVÁ, E., BÌLÁÈKOVÁ, V.

Department of Addictology, 1st Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague and General University Hospital in Prague,
Czech Republic

Citation: Drápalová, E., Bìláèková, V. (2016). Monitoring of Discussion Forums on New Psychoactive Substances in the
Czech Republic – Content and Trends. Adiktologie, 16(2), 130–142.

BACKGROUND: Given the lack of information about all the posts), while the share of posts discussing so-called
new psychoactive substances (NPS), their effects and “research chemicals” increased (from 36% to 45%). Quali-
risks, analysis of online discussion forums is a useful met- tative analysis suggests that this may be due to a reduced
hod to obtain this data. AIMS: Monitoring of Czech online supply of commercial products on the market and the dis-
discussions about NPS aimed to describe and categorise couraging properties of such products, such as their un-
their content and identify trends in the use and purchase of known and changing content and unpredictable effects. As
NPS. DESIGN AND MEASUREMENTS: The content of indicated by the posts, the most popular Czech web-based
two Czech discussion forums for users of NPS with shops wound up their activities in 2013. Consequently, the
1916 posts was analysed quantitatively and qualitatively. members of the forums started to purchase more frequ-
The forums were monitored on a monthly basis from Janu- ently from foreign online shops that they had previously
ary 2013 to December 2014. RESULTS: The forums conta- avoided. To some extent, the outcomes of the analysis cor-
in a wide range of knowledge about NPS and their purcha- respond with the relevant information on NPS use availab-
se which is based on users’ own experience, supplemen- le from other sources. CONCLUSIONS: Discussion fo-
ted by information from other sources. A substantial rums play a crucial role as a source of information about
decrease in the number of discussants (-20%) and posts NPS and are a self-help tool for reducing the potential risks
(-49%) was observed in 2014. In that year, the share of for their users. When made part of a comprehensive moni-
the posts dedicated to so-called “commercial pro- toring approach, analysis of forum‘s content can yield in-
ducts/collectors’ items” decreased (from 20% to 0.3% of formation for a wide array of experts.

KEY WORDS: NEW PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCES – ONLINE DISCUSSION FORUMS – QUALITATIVE CONTENT

ANALYSIS – QUANTITATIVE CONTENT ANALYSIS – TRENDS

Submitted: 12 / OCTOBER / 2015 Accepted: 26 / FEBRUARY / 2016

Grant support: The drafting of this article was supported by the JUST/2012/DPIP/AG/3641 grant (I-TREND) and
a grant from the Internal Grant Agency of the Ministry of Health, No. NT/14064.
This publication has been edited with the financial support of the Drug Prevention and Information Programme of the
European Union, project No. JUST/2013/DPIP/AG/4774, “New Psychoactive Substances among Problem Drug Users
– Towards Effective and Comprehensive Health Responses in Europe”.

Address for correspondence: Eva Drápalová / eva.drapalova@gmail.com / Department of Addictology,

st
1 Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague and General University Hospital in Prague, Apolináøská 4, 128 00
Prague 2, Czech Republic

ADIKTOLOGIE 131
 l 1 INTRODUCTION were recorded. There was also a year-on-year increase in
New psychoactive substances (NPS) are defined as sub- the number of the substances on offer: from 42 in 2013 to 64
stances of abuse in pure form or in a chemical mixture that in 2014 (Mravèík et al., 2014).
have not been scheduled under the 1961 United Nations
Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs and the 1971 United l 1 / 3 Information about NPS Use
Nations Convention on Psychotropic Substances and may According to the Eurobarometer survey, the lifetime preva-
pose a threat to public health” (EMCDDA, 2009). These lence of NPS use among the European population of young
substances are often referred to as “legal highs”, “research adults (aged 15-24) was 8% in 2014, while in 2011 it was 5%.
chemicals”, or “party pills” (Corazza et al., 2013). The highest lifetime prevalence of NPS use was recorded in
Ireland (22%), Slovenia (13%), and Spain (13%). As in 2011,
l 1 / 1 Typology of NPS in terms of marketing NPS use in the Czech Republic reached the 4% level in 2014
strategies (Eurobarometer, 2011, 2014). A Czech general population
NPS are marketed as “commercial products” or “research survey carried out in 2013 recorded a 0.6% lifetime preva-
chemicals”. Commercial products are named in such a way lence of the use of other synthetic drugs among the 15-64
as to suggest either the type of the effect they produce or age group (Mravèík et al., 2014). However, it is complicated
their illegal counterparts. In the Czech Republic they to identify the prevalence of NPS in population surveys, as
are known as “collectors’ items”, which were offered by there is no single generally accepted name for these sub-
so-called Amsterdam Shops in 2010. The names do not pro- stances and the number of NPS which respondents could be
vide any clue as to their compounds and they often involve asked about is high. In addition, users often do not know the
mixtures of multiple substances (Corazza et al., 2014b; names of the substances they have used (Grolmusová &
Schifano et al., 2009). Mravèík, 2012).
“Research chemicals” (RCs) are generally referred to The use of NPS seems to be preferred by specific popu-
by their chemical or pharmacological names (González lations, such as dance partygoers (Benshop et al., 2011;
et al., 2013). RCs are particularly preferred by Measham et al., 2011) or problem drug users (Abagiu et al.,
“e-psychonauts”, who tend to be highly knowledgeable 2014; Malczewski et al., 2013). Online discussion forums
about NPS and try to use such knowledge in order to mini- (“forums”) are used as sources of information about the ef-
mise the risk the use of them entails. This group of users fects of the substances, particularly when no long-term
does not favour “commercial products” because of their un- pharmacological and toxicological studies or other peer-re-
known and variable content (Davey et al., 2012). Accord- viewed evidence is available (Corazza et al; 2014b; Deluca
ing to Corazza et al. (2014b), “commercial products” are et al., 2012; Jebadurai et al., 2013; Schifano et al., 2009;
more intended to captivate younger and less experienced Schifano et al., 2011; Schifano et al., 2005; Soussan &
NPS users. Kjellgren, 2014).

l 1 / 2 Occurrence and supply of NPS l 1 / 4 Online Discussion Forums and Their

The number of NPS reported in Europe for the first time Role in the Monitoring of NPS
grows every year (81 new NPS in 2013, 101 in 2014) Members of discussion forums work as a self-supporting
(EMCDDA, 2015). In the Czech Republic, 48 NPS were in- community, the primary focus of which is to obtain and
tercepted in 2013. 12 of them were identified for the very share information about substance use (Kjellgren et al.,
first time in the Czech Republic, and for three of them it was 2013; Stockdale et al., 2007). The information that is ex-
the first time they had occurred within the EU (Mravèík et changed there includes that concerning the composition of
al., 2014). 22 NPS were reported for the first time in 2014 commercial products (Soussan & Kjellgren, 2014), the ori-
(NMS, 2015). At the beginning, the distribution of NPS gin of substances and their chemical structures and phar-
could be monitored through land-based retail outlets. In re- macological and toxicological characteristics, and that
cent years, however, a major part of this market has moved about tolerance and both desirable and undesirable effects.
online (Bruno et al., 2013; Corazza et al., 2014a). Users were found to be highly knowledgeable in this respect
Using a snapshot survey method (Hillebrand et al., (Soussan & Kjellgren, 2014).
2010), 651 online shops selling NPS to customers in Europe The exchange of information is useful in reducing the
were identified (EMCDDA, 2014). In the Czech Republic, risk of NPS use and maximising the pleasurable sensation
too, the sale of NPS moved online following the closedown of the use of them may induce (Drápalová & Bìláèková, 2014;
brick-and-mortar Amsterdam Shops and similar retail out- Soussan & Kjellgren, 2014). Czech-speaking discussion fo-
lets in 2011. As of August 2014 NPS could be purchased rums were studied by Drápalová and Bìláèková (2014).
from 26 online marketplaces in the Czech language. This They confirmed that some users perceive the effects of NPS
meant an increase against 2013, when 19 web-based shops as low and, therefore, there is a risk of overdosing on sub-

132 ADIKTOLOGIE DRÁPALOVÁ, E., BÌLÁÈKOVÁ, V.

 2016 / 16 / 2

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

stances which are capable of inducing strong effects even in also undertaken in other European countries (France, the
small doses. United Kingdom, Poland, and the Netherlands). Both fo-
As the NPS market is undergoing constant develop- rums generated a total of 1,916 posts (an average of 80 posts
ment and changes, it is vital that it is monitored on a regu- per month), which were subjected to content analysis
lar and long-term basis in order to identify the latest trends (Holsti, 1969). The amount of data made it possible to ana-
and patterns of NPS use (Corazza et al., 2014b; Deluca et lyse all the posts in both forums.
al., 2012; Schifano et al., 2009). According to Soussan and Content analysis is a research method which makes it
Kjellgren (2014), information on specific NPS appears on possible to provide an objective and systematic account of
the forums before the substances are identified by the Early the explicit content of communication (Berelson, 1952).
Warning System. It is also important to monitor the forums Both qualitative and quantitative approaches were applied.
as a method of keeping a record of local trends, as the use of The qualitative approach was used to examine the content
NPS may differ dramatically at the national and of the forums in order to create representative semantic cat-
subnational levels (Deluca et al., 2012). egories, to which larger segments of text could be assigned
The objective of the monitoring of the content of Czech on the basis of their meaning. Using the open coding
online discussions about NPS which this article reports on method, the authors identified semantic units represented
was to describe the developments concerning (i) NPS use by codes. Then they broke down all the semantic units
(the NPS being discussed, what experience users have with found in the text into a multi-level code structure, described
NPS is reflected in the subjects raised in the discussions, in more detail in Table 2. The categories were created partly
the quality of the substances used, and whether forum by using the template provided under the I-TREND project
members advise each other and what such advice pertains (Martinez, 2013), partly on the basis of previous research
to, and any other NPS-related information they may share studies (Drápalová & Bìláèková, 2014; Soussan &
among themselves) and (ii) NPS-related purchasing prac- Kjellgren, 2014), and partly inductively, reflecting the con-
tices (the shops/transactions being discussed and their tent of the text under analysis (Kondracki & Wellman,
characteristics, the purchasing process, the quality of the 2002). Such an approach is typical of a conventional content
shops, and whether the people involved in the discussions analysis (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005).
offer to sell or buy NPS among themselves). The quantitative content analysis focused on the num-
ber of posts dedicated to specific NPS and web-based mar-
l 2 METHODS ketplaces, i.e. their “topicality”. Because of the structure
Internet discussion forums for NPS users were looked for and volume of the data in the Czech forums, other indica-
using Google’s full-text search engine. The first ten results tors proposed by the I-TREND project (Martinez, 2013)
of each search operation involving the key phrases “Amster- could not be monitored. Qualitative content analysis was
dam Shop”, “legal highs”, “research chemicals”, and the helpful in interpreting the changes in the study indicators
Czech equivalents of “new drugs”, “discussion”, “forum”, from 2013 to 2014. The conceptualisation and categorisa-
and “experience” were subjected to thorough scrutiny. The tion of the meanings was useful in sorting the results and in
search process yielded two forums that were dedicated to formulating several theoretical outcomes, using the
NPS and in operation from January 2013 to December grounded theory method (Glaser & Strauss, 1967).
2014. The forums are described in more detail in Table 1. The validity of the research was assured by the trian-
Both forums were monitored on a monthly basis and gulation of the data collection methods (qualitative and
their content was saved in text files. As part of the quantitative content analysis and the data being analysed
I-TREND project, the monitoring of discussion forums was by both authors independently of each other) and data

Table 1 / Tabulka 1
Internet discussion forums for NPS users under analysis
Analyzovaná internetová diskuzní fóra pro uživatele NPS

Name Accessibility Administrator Number of posts Number of unique discussants

2013 2014 2013 vs. 2014 2013 2014 2013 vs. 2014
change change

Forum 1 Public Yes 968 124 -87.2% 49 28 -42.9%

(lide.cz)

Forum 2 Accessible Yes 299 525 75.6% 49 50 2.0%

(nyx.cz) after logging in

TOTAL n. a. n. a. 1267 649 -48.8% 98 78 -20.4%

MONITORING OF DISCUSSION FORUMS ON NEW PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCES … ADIKTOLOGIE 133

 Table 2 / Tabulka 2
Semantic categories describing the content of discussion forums
Významové kategorie charakterizující obsah diskuzních fór

Main categories Subcategory I Subcategory II

Discussion about NPS Substances discussed Commercial products

Research chemicals

Experience with the substances Appearance

Dosage

Route of administration

Effect

Duration of effect

Quantity used and the frequency of use

Other substances

Preparation

Duration of effect

Set and setting

Quality of the substances Strength of effect

Changes in quality

Purity

Counselling Request for a review of a substance

Recommendation of a suitable NPS

Maximisation of effect

Risk minimisation

Information about the substances Chemical composition

Mechanism of action

Risk potential

Content

Legality

Discussion about the purchase and sale of NPS Specific shops discussed Names

Purchases in the Czech Republic

Purchases abroad

Characteristics of online shops Provenance

Accessibility

Buying process Ordering

Payment

Delivery

Quality of online shops Satisfaction

Issues

Comparison of quality

Purchase, sale, and sharing of NPS among Purchase

forum members
Sharing

Sale

Manufacturing

134 ADIKTOLOGIE DRÁPALOVÁ, E., BÌLÁÈKOVÁ, V.

 2016 / 16 / 2

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

sources (comparison of the data with that generated by sim- 3 / 1 / 2 Experience with the Substances Used
ilar research projects in the Discussion section). The discussants exchanged information about their experi-
All the discussants’ statements were quoted anony- ence with the use of specific substances. They described
mously. In order to strengthen the measures taken to their appearance, the dose used, the route of administra-
prevent any identification, it is not indicated which tion, specific physical and psychological effects and the du-
forum the statements were taken from and it was ration of such effects, the total quantity used, and the cir-
checked that they cannot be retrieved using internet cumstances and frequency of use. The comparison of the ef-
search engines. fect of an NPS in contrast to an illicit substance or to an
already-known NPS, and the indication of the substances
l 3 RESULTS used in combination with a specific NPS, whether to maxi-
The number of posts that were analysed suggests that from mise their effects or mitigate the adverse ones, were com-
2013 to 2014 there was a decline in the number of posts per- mon topics. Instances of shared experience including all the
taining to NPS (see Table 1). The year 2014 saw an overall above information in a single post and thus coming close to
drop in the number of discussants (-20%) and posts (-49%). the fulfilment of the criteria for a “trip report”1 were rather
While the activity on www.lide.cz subsided (the numbers of rare during the period under study; they were more fre-
discussants and posts declined by 43% and 87% respec- quent in relation to NPS with hallucinogenic effects. Other
tively), an increase in the number of posts was observed on reports tended to limit themselves to a short description of
the www.nyx.cz forum (the number of discussants rose by several aspects of experience with NPS, sometimes involv-
2% and the number of posts by 76%). ing only a basic summary account indicating whether a spe-
The results of the work were divided according to se- cific NPS works or not: “Cherry Cocolino – very weak, kind of
mantic categories (see Table 2) into two semantic units – wishy-washy, just for a while and unpleasant comedown.
discussions concerning the individual NPS and the topics MPA at least works in comparison with other products.”
related to the purchase of NPS. The effects of some of the substances, e.g. hallucino-
gens, synthetic cannabinoids, and some euphorising sub-
l 3 / 1 Discussions about NPS stances and stimulants such as 3-MMC or 4-FA, were found
Specific NPS and experience of their use and quality were to be strong. Soon after they had been tried, low-effect sub-
discussed on the forums. A great number of the posts also stances received negative reviews: “4-FMA is a weak sub-
involved recommendations concerning the choice of the stance with a negligible effect, something like a coffee made
right NPS and the circumstances for using it which might of grounds that have already been used.” The quality of
maximise the desired effects while minimising the adverse a specific NPS could change over time, as observed in dis-
ones. Forum participants often shared information ob- cussions about commercial products, in particular: “I’d say
tained from other online sources, too. that in the case of White Champagne they really went down
with the quality. The first batch (about half a year ago)
3 / 1 / 1 Substances under Discussion worked better, I think – in terms of both stimulation and eu-
The substances addressed in the discussions were infor- phoria. About a month ago I ordered another batch, but it is
mally categorised by the discussants into “commercial prod- far weaker and the comedown is harder, too.”
ucts” and “RCs”. Herbal products and illegal drugs included The users also mentioned differences in the quality of
in the discussions were not classified as NPS for the pur- the individual RC products (across different producers, in
poses of this study. The number of posts mentioning a spe- particular), despite the fact that the products were sold un-
cific commercial product or RC was followed for a period of der the same chemical formula: “You may find it strange,
two years; Table 3 provides an overview of the “commercial but there are five different makers of EP (ethylphenidate),
products” and RCs were discussed most. but the products have completely different effects, although
In 2013 a total of 27 commercial products were dis- you get the basic thing, i.e. stimulation, from all of them. Of
cussed in 258 posts (approximately 20% of all the 1,267 this assortment, LegalWeed has the highest quality, at least
posts in that year), while in 2014 it was only two commer- it did until recently.” Low or unexpected effects were ex-
cial products in two posts (approximately 0.3% of the total plained by the discussants by the presence of admixtures
of 649). In 2013 altogether 45 different RCs were discussed intended to either increase the volume of the product being
in 453 posts (36% of the total), while in 2014 it was 66 RCs sold or provide a new dimension of the effect of the product.
in 291 posts (45% of the total); see Table 3. To summarise,
there was a major decrease in the proportion of posts ad-
dressing so-called “commercial products/collectors’ items” 1/ Trip report, or a detailed description using a conventional formal struc-
and a growth in the percentage of posts on “research chemi- ture produced by a user in response to their personal experience with a psycho-
cals” was observed, together with a greater range of RCs. active substance (Lahaie et al., 2013).

MONITORING OF DISCUSSION FORUMS ON NEW PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCES … ADIKTOLOGIE 135

 Table 3 / Tabulka 3
NPS discussed in Czech online discussion boards in 2013 and 2014 – NPS with five and more posts
NPS diskutované v èeských online diskusních fórech v letech 2013 a 2014 – NPS s pìti a více pøíspìvky

Commercial products Research chemicals

2013 2014 2013 2014

NAME OF PRODUCT (number of Funky (88;24) n.a. 3-MMC (92;14) 3-MMC (22;4)
posts; number of users
Cherry Cocolino (47;22) pentedrone (52; 12) 25I-NBOME (19;5)
describing direct experience);
products and chemicals that EX (13;6) MPA (50;12) AMT (16;8)

were discussed in both years are Wlodziu (11;6) ethylphenidate (29;9) ethylphenidate (15;10)
in bold print
No Name (10;4) dextromethorphan (26;5) 5-meo-DMT (14;3)

El Magico (9;5) DMT (24;0) DOB (14;6)

Fresh and Funky (9;4) 2C-B (21;8) 25C-NBOH (13;4)

Pikon (9;1) 6-APB (14;2) MDPV (13;0)

Chujnia (8;3) 4-FA (13;6) NBOME (12;3)

White champagne (8;2) AMT (11;7) 25i-NBOH (11;2)

Herbal Blend (6;1) 4-MEC (11;2) DMT (9;1)

Ibiza (5;1) ethcathinone (9;6) 4-FA (8;3)

methoxetamine (9;3) AL-LAD (7;0)

5-Meo-DMT (8;1) 25c-NBOME (6;2)

2C-E (8;2) 2-FMA (5;0)

Nbome (7;0) bk-2C-B (5;1)

3-FMC (7;1) LSZ (5;0),

3-FA (6;0) methoxetamine (5; 1)

2C-C (5;2) MPA(5;2)

2C-Nbome (5;1) pentedrone (5;0)

TOTAL number of unique 27 2 45 66

products discussed

TOTAL number of posts in 258 2 453 291

which a product discussed

Total PERCENTAGE of posts on 20% 0.3% 36% 45%

specific NPS in the study period

The composition of the NPS used was a major topic. from different sellers, the forums provided the discussants
RCs were viewed by the forum members as products that with a platform on which to share and exchange experi-
contain the components as declared, while the composition ences. Before using a new NPS, the discussants asked oth-
of commercial products was viewed as unknown. The dis- ers about their own experience. Some let their more experi-
cussants tried to guess the composition on the basis of the enced peers recommend a specific NPS which would meet
effects and appearance of the substances and the informa- their expectations. Posts referring to various attempts to
tion from international forums, often calling for a drug maximise the “high” achieved by NPS use, e.g. through suit-
checking service. Some discussants considered that the use able combinations of several NPS, were also recorded: “As
of commercial products posed a higher risk. Neither was the I already had some MPA at home, I tried it both alone and
use of RCs considered safe: “I don’t understand how any- together with 3-MMC. When taken alone, it really has no ef-
body can gamble with his health by taking something he re- fect on the mood, although perhaps it does just a little. With
ally knows nothing about (with reference to a commercial 3-MMC, it seems to me that the states link up nicely.” The
product of unknown composition). RCs pose a great deal of discussants tended to minimise adverse effects and the
risk anyway.” NPS-related risk of damage to health by means of alterna-
In their efforts to orient themselves in a tangle of sev- tive routes of administration, for example: “For some sub-
eral hundred products of varying quality and originating stances, rectal administration is the best (…) In AMT use,

136 ADIKTOLOGIE DRÁPALOVÁ, E., BÌLÁÈKOVÁ, V.

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ORIGINAL ARTICLE

for example, this greatly reduces the nausea which is com- l 3 / 2 Discussion about the Purchase of NPS
mon when it is digested.” The discussants warned each The second main thematic category involved discussions
other against the harm which other NPS users could be ex- concerning the purchase of NPS. Forum members discussed
posed to: “Just to warn you. I used something between 0.5g different web-based marketplaces, their attributes, the pro-
and 0.75g of 3-MMC. As with mephedrone, very realistic cess of shopping for NPS, and the quality of online shops.
hallucinations occurred.” The selling, demanding the purchase, and sharing of NPS
Knowledge attained through direct experience was among the members occurred. A total of 38 shops were dis-
added to by information from other sources, such as other cussed in 2013, while in 2014 it was no more than 21. The
internet discussion forums and scientific publications and shops are summarised in Table 4.
the media, to create a comprehensive body of knowledge
about the individual substances, including their chemical 3 / 2 / 1 Online Shops under Discussion
properties and the mechanism of their action on the human The discussants tended to divide the online shops into Czech
body, including their toxicity, as applicable. Some of the and foreign ones, according to the domain and the language
participants in the discussion possessed detailed knowl- interface. It should be noted at this point that the .cz domain
edge of chemistry, biology, and even medicine. Despite suffix in the URL address does not necessarily guarantee
a great amount of information from international forums, that the shop is Czech. The shop Rc-lab.cz, for example, is in
some of the forum participants found the experience of the Polish language. For some of the discussants it was the
Czech NPS users more reliable and authentic: “Have any of use of the Czech language in the interface of an e-shop that
you got any negative feedback on 25i-nbome directly from mattered; for example, the Rc-chem.eu marketplace was con-
the Czech Republic or your surroundings? Most of the mes- sidered Czech despite its eu. domain suffix. Even this feature
sages from abroad do not sound very compelling to me.” was complicated by the presence of several versions of the
A body of information in its own right was provided by e-shop in different languages, with the translation often be-
discussions about the legality of the substances. The discus- ing generated by online machine translators: “I would not
sants wanted to avoid the potential risk of ordering a sub- take that Czech too seriously. It’s just an online automated
stance which had already been banned. The safe delivery of translation. When you go for Czech, price values are the same
a shipment requires the NPS to be legal both in the Czech like in Euros, only currency suffix is changed to CZK.”
Republic and the country where the shops dispatched their The year 2013 saw a gradual increase in problems with
goods from. the operation of “Czech” online shops, such as Amsterdam
Shop (selling mainly “commercial products”) and Rc-chem.eu

Table 4 / Tabulka 4
Online shops with NPS discussed in Czech online discussion boards in 2013 and 2014 – shops with five and more posts
Online obchody s NPS diskutované v èeských diskusních fórech v letech 2013 a 2014 – obchody s pìti a více pøíspìvky

2013 2014

Name of shop (the figure in parentheses Amsterdam Shop (136) Genuine RC shop (23)
indicates the number of posts). Shops that
Rcchem.eu (72) Research-blotz.com (20)
were discussed in both years are in bold print.
Legalweed shop (34) Rcchem.eu (10)

Euforia Shop (31) Research-chemical-wholesale.com (9)

Partyshop6.webnode.cz (16) Rcnet-chemicals.com (6)

Kolekcjoner.nl (11) Buy-jwh.com (5)

Rc-lab.cz (11) Officialbenzofury.com (5)

Triloxxboxx.cz (11) Sklep-euforia.pl (5)

Genuine RC shop (8)

Buckledbonzi.co.uk (7)

Mefedronshop.cz (7)

Upalacze.eu (7)

Astro-lab.com (6)

Botanic.cz (6)

Isomerism.org (5)

TOTAL 38 unique shops 21 unique shops

MONITORING OF DISCUSSION FORUMS ON NEW PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCES … ADIKTOLOGIE 137

 (selling exclusively RCs). While Amsterdam Shop defini- pay fees, and the hassle in the bank, and you can get it sent
tively wound up its activities in July 2013, Rc-chem.eu re- COD! The question is, though, what the quality is.” Rather
mained in operation, although intermittently, until 2014. than price, it was the size of its assortment and the higher
By the end of 2014 users of discussion forums had concluded quality of the same products as those offered by Amsterdam
that “Czech” online shops had been taken down: “There are Shop that the Rc-chem.eu marketplace, which specialised
no longer any e-shops in Czech I know of. You need to order exclusively in research chemicals, seemed to attract its cus-
from the EU.” One explanation is the effective law enforce- tomers with: “I was happy to find out that AS offers MPA at
ment associated with the efforts to tackle the activities of very reasonable prices with no extra fees. So I gave it a shot
such marketplaces: “Thanks to the legislation effective in and used 0.5g of MPA. But it looks and tastes totally differ-
the Czech Republic (“promotion of drug use”), the operation ent from the stuff supplied by Rc-chem.eu and I was quite
of an RC shop is quite a risky business here.” disappointed by the effect, too! It’s a lot weaker, unfortu-
nately.” “With Rcchem.eu, you know what the substance is
3 / 2 / 2 Experience with the Purchase of NPS about – well, not 100%, but there’s more to choose from.”
The discussants’ description of the process of online shop- It was not rare for the discussants to encounter poor
ping for NPS involved the exchange of their experience with service and fraud from online vendors. Specifically, there
the actual placement of orders for goods. Cash-on-delivery were problems with the processing of orders for goods, long
transactions (COD), where a customer pays at the post of- delivery times, and also failures to deliver pre-paid prod-
fice when collecting the product, seemed to be popular with ucts. In 2014 the discussants began to scale up their use of
the discussants. Advance payment methods, including the services provided by the Safe or Scam website, which is
bank transfers and payments by means of debit/credit good for looking up reviews of online shops offering various
cards, the PayPal system, and the Bitcoin virtual currency, product ranges which are posted by other buyers.
were not so popular, as they exposed the buyers to a higher Some discussants offered to sell NPS that they had
risk of fraud and increased the total cost of the order: “So bought in greater quantities or acted as agents for a shop.
the ordering system on Rc-chem.eu has changed a bit, for the Forum administrators tried to eliminate posts of this type.
worse, unfortunately. There is no cash-on-delivery any more. Some discussants wanted to buy NPS from others, for ex-
You must send the money upfront to a bank account in Hun- ample, in situations in which they were hurriedly seeking
gary, which is quite pricy if you do it through a Czech bank.” a substitute for a shipment that had failed to arrive. The
“Well, it’s always a bit of a gamble to send money in advance; discussions also contained offers for collective shopping in
with these items, especially, it’s hard to claim your rights – web-based marketplaces motivated by savings on postal
I’d be reluctant with greater amounts.” charges or good deals on buying in larger quantities. Some
The quality of online shops was a common topic of dis- discussion forum members decided to take advantage of
cussion. In this respect, too, the forum worked as a sort of people’s dissatisfaction with some of the shops because of
counselling service where the less experienced looked for their unreliability and considered becoming involved in
a shop on the basis of recommendations and evaluation the NPS distribution process: “I just thought, given that
from other participants in the discussion. When happy with AS shop is closing down, that I’d buy from my own source
a specific shop, the discussants tended to recommend it to and sell it off. I’d send it COD or personal delivery around
others. They thought that positive characteristics of a shop Prague, for you to be sure, no problem; moreover, I’ve been
included reliability, the provision of information about around on this forum for some time now.” Some of the dis-
product composition, a simple payment system, short deliv- cussants showed efforts to obtain instructions for manu-
ery time, and a wide assortment of goods. The image of facturing selected NPS and prepare substances on a make-
a shop was further improved by bonuses, discounts, or other shift basis.
products added to the buys as extras: “Hi, has anybody tried
BK-2CB? They offer it now on rc-net with a 30% Christmas l 4 DISCUSSION
discount, so I’m thinking of giving it a try.” “I did two orders The results of the study indicate that the content of the first
from them. Once I got a present from them and the other time thematic category (Discussion about NPS) was basically
there was no postal charge. So just happy with that.” consistent with those of other studies, the objective of which
Amsterdam Shop and Rc-chem.eu, the two market- was to analyse the content of forums for NPS users, espe-
places which were brought up the most frequently in con- cially the phenomena which reflect aspects of experience
nection with the year 2013, were often compared. The popu- with the substances used (Deluca et al., 2012; Jebadurai et
larity of Amsterdam Shop was due to the low prices of the al., 2013; Schifano et al., 2009; Schifano et al., 2011;
products on offer and the much preferred cash-on-delivery Schifano et al., 2005; Soussan & Kjellgren, 2014) and sub-
payment method: “When compared to Rc-chem.eu, the AS ject areas concerning counselling about the minimisation of
(Amsterdam Shop) prices are superb, given that you don’t risk and maximisation of effect (Barratt, 2012; Drápalová &

138 ADIKTOLOGIE DRÁPALOVÁ, E., BÌLÁÈKOVÁ, V.

 2016 / 16 / 2

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Table 5 / Tabulka 5
Results and proposal triangulation with other data sources
Výsledky a triangulace s dalšími zdroji

ANALYSIS OF DISCUSSION FORUMS SOURCES FOR DATA TRIANGULATION LIMITATIONS AND OTHER COMMENTS
RESULT OF ANALYSIS HYPOTHESIS VERIFICATION RESULTS
SOURCES
i. Decline in activity on the a. Decline in the level of NPS use in General population sur- 2013: LTP 1.3%, LYP 0.3% The characteristics of the participants in online fo-
forums under analysis (a the Czech Republic in 2013-2014 veys conducted by the 2014: LTP 0.3%, LYP 0% rums are unknown – they are unlikely to constitute
drop in the total numbers of National Focal Point a representative sample of the NPS user population.
posts and discussants) (NFP) The number of posts does not necessarily reflect
The Eurobarometer sur- 2011: LYP 4% the level of use among the population of online fo-
vey 2014: LYP 4% rum members.
Study on PDUs 2013 2013: LYP 52% The results of the general population surveys hover
and 2014 near the statistical error threshold.
2014: LYP 53%
ii. General decline in the b. Decline in the level of the use of General population sur- N/A The number of posts does not reflect the level of
number of commercial pro- “commercial products” veys, the Eurobarome- No data on the use of specific use among the population of participants in discus-
ducts/collectors’ items being c. Rise in the level of RC use ter survey substances is available. sion forums.
discussed and a relative in- The number of posts, or “topicality”, does not ref-
d. Users of commercial products Study on PDUs 2013 N/A
crease in the number of RCs lect the level of NPS use (e.g. controversies associa-
switched to RCs because of the and 2014 Specific names of NPS to be in-
discussed ted with the NPS).
latter’s better availability and quality cluded in the analysis.
I-TREND SASS monito- 2014: 22% of shops selling CPs, The monitoring of discussion forums is primarily
ring 35% selling RCs concerned with buyers’ behaviour; the
2015: 13% CPs, 43% RCs shop-specific monitoring looks into the supply and
number of shops.
NFP/EMCDDA snapshot N/A
survey The population of forum members does not reflect
Product typology not specified. the behaviour of all the buyers.
iii. Decline in the number of e. Decline in the number of shops in I-TREND SASS monito- 2014: 30 unique shops in Czech
Problematic definition and perception of a shop as
“Czech” shops and an incre- the Czech language accessible via ring 2015: 32 unique shops in Czech “Czech” (Czech domain, Czech IP address, Czech in
ase in the utilisation of onli- Czech search engines
the language interface, etc.).
ne shops abroad NMS/EMCDDA snap- 2013: 26 shops in Czech
f. Increase in the utilisation of online shot survey
shops abroad 2014: 33 shops in Czech
iv. Varying quality of com- g. The composition of commercial The www.party-trend.cz Out of 11 substances which were Neither data collection nor online purchases are ran-
mercial products and RCs products tends to vary over time project database declared to contain a specific domised and are representative.
h. Research chemicals do not always (user-supplied samples) NPS, four contained more than Several online shops might not be “functioning”
contain what they are declared to one substance and three a subs- from the experience of users.
tance other than that declared.
i. The content of RCs tends to vary
over time I-TREND project sample Four out of 26 samples (25%) or-
analysis (RCs purchased dered online from “Czech” mar-
from online shops) ketplaces did not contain the
substance that was declared, two
contained another additional
substance, and one sample con-
tained a mixture of three substan-
ces.

SOURCES: National Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Addiction & ppm factum research (2014, 2015), Bìláèková et al. (2015, 2016), Kmetonyová & Pažitný (2015),
Martinez et al. (2016), Grohmannová et al. 2016, Eurobarometer (2011, 2014), Brunt et al. (2015)
Note: LTP = lifetime prevalence, LYP = last-year prevalence
ZDROJE: National Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Addiction & ppm factum research (2014, 2015), Bìláèková et al. (2015, 2016), Kmetonyová & Pažitný (2015),
Martinez et al. (2016), Grohmannová et al. 2016, Eurobarometer (2011, 2014), Brunt et al. (2015)
Poznámka: LTP = celoživotní prevalence, LYP = prevalence v pøedchozím roce

Bìláèková, 2014; Soussan & Kjellgren, 2014). For some Analysis of the content of forums may generate useful infor-
NPS users, the existence of Czech forums has an essential mation about NPS users’ buying strategies, about the prac-
role in that it makes it possible to share NPS-specific expe- tices of the shops, and, potentially, about the extent to
rience which the discussants find more authentic than that which specific shops are utilised.
of users from abroad. It is therefore fair to assume that The quantitative part of this study suggests the possi-
Czech discussion forums for NPS users could also serve as bility of using quantitative analysis in order to look for
a source of information about new and unexplored sub- trends between different time periods. While the quantita-
stances and their effects and potential for harm for both tive monitoring of the content of the internet in order to
public health professionals and clinicians. map the offer of online shops has been applied for several
Discussions dealing with the purchase and sale of NPS years – e.g. snapshot methods (Hillebrand et al., 2010) or
provide an insight into the patterns of behaviour involved the Psychonaut Web Mapping Project methods (Bruno et
in shopping for NPS. Addressing the topic of the NPS mar- al., 2013; Deluca et al., 2012) – quantitative monitoring of
ket either in terms of the monitoring of online shops per se internet forums is a new method, which was, to the best of
(Bruno et al., 2013; Hillebrand et al., 2010), or in more com- our knowledge, applied for the first time as part of the
prehensive terms, looking into the monitoring of the con- I-TREND project (Martinez, 2013).
tent of the internet as a whole (Corazza et al., 2014a; Using the results of the analysis of the discussion fo-
Schifano et al., 2009), previous studies only reported about rums, we have identified four trends which should be sub-
the number and assortment of web-based marketplaces. jected to triangulation with the results of the previous mon-

MONITORING OF DISCUSSION FORUMS ON NEW PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCES … ADIKTOLOGIE 139

 itoring and research studies in the field of NPS (Table 5). To line shops conducted by both the National Focal Point and
what extent these trends are consistent with information the I-TREND project does not show any decline in the num-
obtained from other sources is discussed below. ber of Czech online shops. Conversely, it suggests that their
One trend is the overall drop in the number of posts number is growing (Kmetonyová, Pažitný, 2015; Grohman-
and the degree of activities on forums (i), which may imply nová et al., 2016). There may also be a discrepancy between
a decline in the level of NPS use. While the prevalence of the users’ and the monitors’ ideas of what a functioning
NPS use among the general population did decrease be- “Czech” online shop actually is. It may also be that the users
tween 2013 and 2014 (National Monitoring Centre for use only a fraction of the shops covered by the monitoring.
Drugs and Addiction & ppm factum research, 2014, 2015), Analysis of discussion forums which looks into buyers’ be-
no such decline was recorded in specific subpopulations haviour may help in obtaining a more comprehensive pic-
(Bìláèková et al., 2016; Eurobarometer, 2011, 2014). The ture of the supply of NPS via the internet.
decline in the number of posts may thus suggest, for exam- Last but not least, the quality of “commercial products”
ple, that the discussions have moved to other communica- received a negative response. Their composition was re-
tion channels which are not freely accessible to the public. garded as unknown and changeable (iv). The effects of some
The question is, too, whether the concept of the “topicality” of the RCs that were described varied depending on the pro-
of a substance is really associated with NPS use; a high ducers of the respective RCs, which may suggest that the
number of posts may not necessarily reflect the popularity RCs do not necessarily contain the NPS as declared, or they
of a substance as it can also indicate controversy surround- may be of dubious purity. This is also confirmed by the anal-
ing the substance. yses of the content of NPS carried out under the I-TREND
While the so-called “commercial products” almost dis- project, which led to the conclusion that the purity ranged
appeared from users’ discussions from 2013 to 2014, there from 100%-50%, depending on the type of RC. Approxi-
was a relative increase in the number of posts on RCs (ii). mately 55% of the RCs analysed in Poland did not contain
This may well be indicative of an overall decline in the use the substances they were declared to; four out of 26 samples
of “commercial products” in the Czech Republic, or their (25%) ordered online from “Czech” marketplaces did not
place having been taken by research chemicals. The quali- contain the substance that was declared, two contained
tative analysis of the discussion forums suggests that it another additional substance, and one sample contained
may be due to mistrust in the safety of “commercial prod- a mixture of three substances (Brunt et al., 2015).
ucts” or an increase in purchases from (RC) shops abroad. The limitations of the qualitative and quantitative
A similar trend is also indicated by the results of the moni- content analyses of discussion forums for NPS users include
toring of online shops carried out as part of the I-TREND the specific nature of the population engaging in the online
project. They show that during the years 2014 and 2015 the discussion of NPS (patterns of NPS use may not necessarily
ratio of shops selling “commercial products” to RC shops reflect the patterns of use among the population of recre-
rose in favour of the latter (Kmetonyová & Pažitný, 2015). ational and problem users) and the low volume of discus-
As neither the absolute number of posts on RCs nor the sions conducted in the Czech language in comparison with
number of discussants grew, this may indicate an increase abroad. The volume of data encountered on forums abroad
in the diversity of the substances used among the same makes it possible to start subforums (threads) for individ-
group of users (the number of RCs under discussion rose ual NPS. In 2013 and 2014 5,169 of those were identified in
from 45 in the previous year to 66) rather than the enlarge- Poland, France, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom
ment of the group of RC users (e.g. to include users of com- (Martinez & Cadet-Taïrou, 2015), while on Czech forums
mercial products). Such developments correspond to the all the substances were discussed within two unstructured
fact that in 2014, 22 new substances were identified in the message boards. It is also possible, though, that there are
Czech Republic by the EWS. Given that this is 24 sub- covert discussion forums in the Czech Republic which could
stances less than in 2013 (NMS, 2015), one might assume not be identified.
a reduction in the variety of substances brought up in
discussions. The truth is, nevertheless, that the chemical l 5 CONCLUSIONS
names of the substances under discussion partly over- This work involved the analysis of the content of Czech in-
lapped in both years. ternet forums for NPS users in the period from January
The conclusions ensuing from both the qualitative and 2013 to December 2014. The discussants shared a consider-
quantitative analyses of discussion forums can be inter- able amount of knowledge about NPS and buying them. The
preted as indicative of the lower availability of Czech online two years’ monitoring of the discussions showed a decline in
marketplaces and the discussants’ greater willingness to the number of discussants (-20%) and posts (-49%). During
buy from shops abroad in 2014 in comparison with 2013 that period a dramatic decline in the proportion of posts
(iii). On the other hand, the data from the monitoring of on- dealing with the so-called “commercial products/collectors’

140 ADIKTOLOGIE DRÁPALOVÁ, E., BÌLÁÈKOVÁ, V.

 2016 / 16 / 2

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

items” (from 20% to 0.3% of all the posts) and an increase in In order to provide a comprehensive picture of the is-
the proportion of posts on so-called research chemicals sue of NPS use in the Czech Republic, analysis of internet
(from 36% to 45% of all the posts) were recorded. The quali- discussion forums should be used in parallel with other
tative content analysis of the posts indicates that this may both quantitative and qualitative methods for studying rec-
be due to the reduced supply of commercial products on the reational users and problem users and the school and gen-
market and the deterrent characteristics of these products, eral populations or monitoring online marketplaces.
such as unknown composition and unpredictable effects.
The most popular Czech web-based shops wound up their The role of the authors: Eva Drápalová and Vendula
activities in 2013 and the forum members began to use the Bìláèková adapted the study design to the Czech setting.
services of foreign online marketplaces. Eva Drápalová collected the data and created the main ana-
The results of this analysis are congruent with other lytical categories. Vendula Bìláèková participated in the
relevant evidence in that they suggest a decline in the oc- analysis of the data and in writting of the paper.
currence of “commercial products/collectors’ items” on the Conflict of interest: This study involved no conflicts of in-
NPS market, which are partly giving way to substances terest.
sold under their chemical names. In addition, they all indi-
cate the varying quality of the substances sold. A decrease Role autorù: Autorky Eva Drápalová a Vendula Bìláèková
in the level of NPS use in the Czech Republic, which might pøizpùsobily design studie èeskému prostøedí. Eva Drápalo-
be implied by the lower number of posts concerning NPS, vá provedla sbìr dat a vytváøela hlavní analytické kategorie.
was confirmed only to a certain extent (among the general Vendula Bìláèková se spolupodílela na analýze dat a na pøí-
population). The results of this study are at odds with those pravì publikace.
of the monitoring of online shops selling NPS: unlike the Konflikt zájmù: V uvedené studii nedošlo ke støetu zájmù.
discussants, the latter recorded an increase in the number
of e-shops in the Czech language.

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142 ADIKTOLOGIE DRÁPALOVÁ, E., BÌLÁÈKOVÁ, V.