New Psychoactive Substances Constant State of Flux: NBOMe Brazilian Case

The new psychoactive substances (NPS) market is in a constant state of flux, with new substances being synthesized regularly and marketed in many ways and forms. These substances often emerge quickly, just as they disappear, evidencing a clear attempt to circumvent the control trafficking enforcement agencies and the international community. Among the wide variety of NPS, the NBOMe series attracted attention from medical and legal authorities due to the high number of cases of intoxication, followed or not by death in several countries around the world, including Brazil. So, this brief communication aimed to evaluate the number of NBOMe Brazilian Federal Police (BFP) over the past eight years, and highlight the NPS constant state of flux, evidencing by the Brazilian NBOMe case. This is a retrospective study based on information from forensic analysis reports from seizures of BFP. The NBOMe seizures generated 4 forensic analysis requests in 2012, 21 in 2013, 45 in 2014, 61 in 2015, 80 in 2016, 22 in 2017, 19 in 2018 and 2 in 2019, totaling 254 forensic analysis reports Brazilian Journal of Forensic Sciences, Medical Law and Bioethics 11(1):62-69 (2021) 63 C. A. Y. Wayhs et al. analyzed. This NPS emerged quickly in Brazil from the year 2012, and tented to disappear in recent years, from the perspective of the BPF forensic analysis reports, evidencing the NPS constant state of flux, represented here by the Brazilian NBOMe case.


Introduction
New psychoactive substances (NPS) are substances with stimulant properties that are not controlled by the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961 or the Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971 but may a public health threat similar to substances that are under international control. NPS include substances that are projected to mimic substances with stimulant properties that are under international control, like amphetamine, methamphetamine, cathinone and methcathinone 1 . These substances generate subjective effects in users like "boosted mood" or euphoria, empathy feelings and compassion (empathogenic and entactogenic effects of serotonin-releasing drugs), increased sociability and sex drive, a perceived increase within the ability to learn and focus, increased energy and alertness 2 .
The NPS market is in a constant state of flux, with new substances being synthesized regularly and marketed in many ways and forms, like blotter papers, seals, tablets, crystals, bath salts, among others. These substances often emerge quickly, just as they disappear, evidencing a clear attempt to circumvent the control trafficking enforcement agencies and the international community 1 . In the late 1990s, there were approximately 230 psychoactive substances under international control, and some of which dominated the global drug market, the best-known being cannabis, cocaine, opium, heroin, amphetamines and "ecstasy". Two decades later, the situation has changed, as there are now much more substances on the market. Several synthetic NPS Worldwide, in recent years authorities have identified quite three times as many NPS as there are psychoactive substances under international control 1 . Among the wide variety of NPS, the NBOMe series, attracted attention from medical and legal authorities due to the high number of cases of intoxication, followed or not by death in several countries around the world, including Brazil [3][4][5][6][7][8][9] . NBOMes are derived from the 2C-X family of hallucinogenic phenethylamines, and they are sold under different names as "designer drugs", "herbal highs", "synthetic drugs", "research chemicals", "legal highs", "smile", "synthetic lysergic acid", "Nbomb", "Acid", "25B", and "25C". These drugs act as partial agonists of serotonin receptor 5-HT 2 A, being used mainly by oral/sublingual sporadically intravenous, nasal, vaginal, rectal, and reported their use smoking 4 . Some studies describe psychiatric manifestations, like euphoria and panic attacks, and also its consumption can also increase risky behaviors, like suicide attempts, unprotected sex with multiple partners 9 . In this context, this paper aimed evaluate the number of NBOMe Brazilian Federal Police (BFP) forensic analysis reports over the past eight years, and highlight the NPS constant state of flux, evidencing by the Brazilian NBOMe case.

Material and methods
This is a retrospective study based on information from forensic analysis reports from seizures of BPF. The database used was the Criminology System of BFP, a national database of digitized expert reports produced by the forensic units of the Brazilian states. The forensic reports that containing the term "NBOMe" their salts and isomers, dated from 01 January 2012 to 31 July 2019 were accessed individually by FP intranet. Data were collected, grouped into spreadsheets, tabulated, analyzed and interpreted using Microsoft Excel ® .

Results
The number of BFP forensic analysis reports containing the term NBOMe, their salts and isomers, over the past eight years (2012 to 2019) presented in the Criminology System of BFP is presented in Figure 1

Discussion
In order to control the substances marketed in Brazil, the Agência Nacional de

Conclusions
This