A concerning trend emerged in Belgian hospitals: a cluster of intoxications linked to new psychoactive substances. Analysis of 39 cases confirmed the presence of a potent synthetic cathinone, akin to 'bath salts' or 'flakka'. Patients often experienced severe symptoms like aggression, frequently due to poly-drug use. This highlights the urgent need for information sharing to enhance healthcare responses to these complex intoxications.
Four portable analytical methods for drug checking at events were compared using MDMA samples. Mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopy and an electrochemical sensor approach performed best. The electrochemical method directly measured the percentage of MDMA in samples, while MIR could screen for multiple substances and identify unexpected active components, an advantage given the rise of new psychoactive substances. Near-infrared and Raman spectroscopy were the other two methods tested. The study demonstrates that practical, easy-to-use approaches exist for harm reduction at events, though each method has trade-offs between specificity and breadth of detection.