The tempting business of smart drugs: A concrete health risk

Th e so-cal led smart-drugs, plant-ba sed sub stan ces used for cen tu ries by di ver se po pu la ti ons espe ci al ly of Cen tral Ame ri ca in strict ri tua li zed sha ma nic con text thanks to their psy cho tro pic eff ects, from the ni neties have had wide diff u si on across Eu ro pe. In Ita ly smart-drugs busi ness, by pas sing tra di tio nal clan des ti ne labs and il li cit chan nels, was pos si ble by their availa bi li ty in smart-shops ap pea red in Mi lan and Rome and mo reo ver ex ploi ting the ever-ex panding in ter net sys tem. Via the In ter net avid sur fers have found trou blefree ac ces si bi li ty to smart-drugs at low cost with the ad van ta ge of diffi - cul ties in po li ce con trol, an ony mi ty and lack of re gu la ti ons, too. In Ita ly, bet ween 2001-2003, Po stal Po li ce has sei zed more than fi ve hundred par cels con tai ning su spi cious bo ta ni cal spe cies and ta blets sent after on-line purcha ses by a known Dutch In ter net site to Ita li an buy ers. Th e au t hors her e by pre sent the re sults of to xi co lo gi cal ana ly sis on the se fi n dings (1167), with evi dence of ac ti ve prin cip les as cri ba ble to diff e rent smart-drugs: sal vi no ri ne in Sal via di vi norum; LSA (er gi ne) in seeds of Ri vea co rym bo sa, Ipo mea vio la cea, Ar gy reia ner vo sa, har mi ne and har ma li ne in Pe ga num har ma la, mes ca li ne in Lo pho pho ra Wil liam sii, psi lo cy bin/psi lo cin in Co pe lan dia Cya ne scens, Psi lo cy be Tam pa nen sis, Psi lo cy be Cu ben sis, Phi lo so phers Sto nes, ephe dri ne and yo him bi ne in se ver al phar ma ceu ti cal pro ducts. Con si de ring smart-drugs an un known ha zard and a po ten ti al emerging drug of ab u se we give a ge ne ral over view of the pos si ble psy choacti ve eff ects of the most wi de ly used smart drugs in their va rious forms of in ta ke and their pos si ble harms on man. Fur ther mo re we il lus tra te the most re cent tra de re stric ti ons ad op ted in Ita ly to li mit their diff u si on via the In ter net.