Monitoring of Discussion Forums on New Psychoactive Substances in the Czech Republic - Content and Trends
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Given the lack of information about new psychoactive substances (NPS), their effects and risks, analysis of online discussion forums is a useful method to obtain this data. AIMS: Monitoring of Czech online discussions about NPS aimed to describe and categorise their content and identify trends in the use and purchase of NPS.
DESIGN AND MEASUREMENTS: The content of two Czech discussion forums for users of NPS with 1916 posts was analysed quantitatively and qualitatively. The forums were monitored on a monthly basis from January 2013 to December 2014.
RESULTS: The forums contain a wide range of knowledge about NPS and their purchase which is based on users' own experience, supplemented by information from other sources. A substantial decrease in the number of discussants (-20%) and posts (-49%) was observed in 2014.
In that year, the share of the posts dedicated to so-called "commercial products/collectors' items" decreased (from 20% to 0.3% of all the posts), while the share of posts discussing so-called "research chemicals" increased (from 36% to 45%). Qualitative analysis suggests that this may be due to a reduced supply of commercial products on the market and the discouraging properties of such products, such as their unknown and changing content and unpredictable effects.
As indicated by the posts, the most popular Czech web-based shops wound up their activities in 2013. Consequently, the members of the forums started to purchase more frequently from foreign online shops that they had previously avoided.
To some extent, the outcomes of the analysis correspond with the relevant information on NPS use available from other sources. CONCLUSIONS: Discussion forums play a crucial role as a source of information about NPS and are a self-help tool for reducing the potential risks for their users.
When made part of a comprehensive monitoring approach, analysis of forum's content can yield information for a wide array of experts.