Psychonauts’ psychedelics: A systematic, multilingual, web-crawling exercise

This online study, using a web-crawler and then manual analysis of the data, found 994 previously unknown psychedelic molecules.

Abstract

“Psychedelics alter the perception of reality through agonist or partial agonist interaction with the 2A serotoninergic receptor. They are classified as phenethylamines, tryptamines and lysergamides. These classes, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), account for an important percentage of the new psychoactive substances (NPS) current scenario. The paper aimed at: a) identifying and categorising psychedelic molecules from a list of psychonautwebsites and NPS online resources; and b) comparing the NPSfinder^Ⓡ results with those from the European and United Nations databases. A crawling software (i.e. ‘NPSfinder^Ⓡ’) was created to automatically scan, 24/7, a list of URLs and to extract a range of information (chemical/street names, chemical formulae, etc.) to facilitate NPS identification. Data collected were manually analysed and compared with the EMCDDA and UNODC databases. The overall number of psychedelic NPS detected by NPSfinder^Ⓡ (November 2017-February 2020) was 1344, almost ten-times higher than that reported by the UNODC and EMCDDA combined. Of these, 994 previously unknown molecules were identified as (potential) novel psychedelics, suggesting a strong discrepancy between online and real-world NPS scenarios. The results show the interest of psychonauts, and maybe of the much larger community of ‘recreational’ drug users, towards psychedelics. Moreover, examining online scenario may help in assessing the availability in the real world of psychedelic NPS; understanding drug trends; and in possibly predicting future drug scenarios”

Authors: Valeria Catalani, John M. Corkery, Amira Guirguis, Flavia Napoletano, Davide Arillotta, Caroline Zangani, Alessandro Vento &Fabrizio Schifano

Summary

Abstract

Psychedelics alter the perception of reality through agonist or partial agonist interaction with the 2A serotoninergic receptor. A crawling software, NPS finder R, was created to automatically scan a list of URLs and to extract a range of information to facilitate NPS identification.

1. Introduction

Psychedelics are substances that have a mind-manifesting capability, and are often termed hallucinogens. They induce distorted states of consciousness, perception, thinking and feeling, accompanied by different degrees of auditory or visual hallucinations.

The term ‘hallucinogen’ is used to describe a wide range of different types of psychoactive molecules, including tryptamines, LSD, lysergamides/rigidified tryptamines, and phenethylamines. Psychedelics are specifically agonists or partial agonists on the brain’s serotonin (5-HT)-2A subtype receptors.

Psychedelics are considered one of the most ancient classes of psychopharmacological agents, and are of high interest because of their ability to produce unique and dramatic consciousness alterations.

In the early 2000s, synthetic derivatives of LSD, tryptamine and phenethylamines were introduced on the recreational drug market. Many acute intoxication and lethal cases were reported, and the polysubstance drug consumption trend of use/abuse was a reason of concern as well.

In parallel with the emergence of psychedelic NPS, a new trend in drug experimentation has emerged, characterized by the use of e-psychonauts, who consider psychedelic NPS as the best way to explore the human mind and address spiritual questions.

The e-psychonauts phenomenon is strongly interlinked with the NPS diffusion phenomenon, with the latter being a strong influencing voice in defining and feeding the market for the former. Understanding the online psychedelic scenarios may be of great help in assessing the availability of and demand for psychedelic NPS.

The current research aimed to identify and categorise psychedelic molecules from psychonaut websites and compare the results with databases.

2.1. Identification of molecules

Dami-com created a web crawler to scan URLs for new/novel/emerging NPS and extract information about a large variety of psychoactive molecules. The data was then stored in an online, restricted access/password-controlled, database located within firewall-protected/highly secure and consistently performing proprietary servers. A control panel composed of five professionals analysed all the data extracted by the web crawler from 26 November 2017 to 24 February 2020 and identified the range of unique psychedelic molecules documented.

2.2. Classification of psychedelic molecules

This study focused on psychedelic tryptamines, lysergamides and phenethylamines and classified them into NBOMes, FLYs and dragonFLYs, respectively rigid dihydrofuran or furan rings series. Only those showing psychedelic effects were considered for the scope of this paper.

2.3. Comparison between NPS finder ®, EMCDDA and UNODC databases

JMC compared entries from the NPS finder database with entries from the EDND and EWA databases.

3.1. Data from the NPS finder ®web crawler

After more than two years of operation, 4368 unique NPS were identified by the web crawler activities. Phenethylamines were the most popular NPS class mentioned in psychonaut fora with 1263 (28.9%) entries; including 31 NBOMes and 16 FLYs/ dragonFLYs.

3.2. Data from the EMCDDA and UNODC databases

Across these two databases, 27 NBOMe, 3 FLYS, 50 psychedelics, 58 stimulant/entactogenic and 32 molecules with no reported effects were identified.

3.3. Comparison of NPS finder ®vs EMCDDA and UNODC database entries

The NPS finder ® detected a number of psychedelics that was almost ten times higher compared to figures from the other 2 databases. Moreover, 946 molecules were considered as ‘putative psychedelics’ due to lack of data on their psychoactive activity.

The NPS finder ® showed a higher number of entries for tryptamines and lysergamides than the UNODC and EMCDDA databases, but still reported 994 novel or putative psychedelics.

4. Discussion

A systematic, multilingual, open web crawling activity was conducted to identify 994 novel/putative novel psychedelics molecules. The results suggest that the extent of the NPS phenomenon online versus the real-world situation is different, and that examining the online scenarios is of great potential to assess the NPS phenomenon.

The NPS finder ® is different from the remaining databases in that it is a reactive, event-based, reporting to online drug databases. Therefore, the limitations and challenges encountered in the NPS identification process are not encountered online.

Psychonauts use drugs with entheogenic/psychedelic properties to access areas and realms never ‘dreamt of’ before. Their drug intake shows high similarities with ancient shamanic ritual plant consumption.

Psychedelic NPS are still seen as advantageous by psychonauts and online drug users, who are attracted to the idea of the evolutionary role and positive effects.

Modern psychedelics exhibit high toxicity levels, and their ingestion should be considered unsafe. The extreme toxicity of some psychedelic NPS is associated with distinct selectivity for the 5-HT2A receptor, resulting in high clinical potency.

The use of psychoactive drugs can lead to psychotic features, including paranoid and full-blown systematic delusions, mood alteration towards hypomanic states, suicidal thoughts, and depression states.

Some psychedelic NPS have pharmacology and toxicity data from in vivo/in vitro studies, but for most NPS there is a lack of reliable data. Hence, these substances may be considered as potent and potentially dangerous recreational drugs.

The number of substances listed between the two official databases provides a full overview of NPS historical data, but NPS finder ® reports a more dynamic picture of their existence and diffusion.

4.1. Limitations

Current NPS finder ® results cannot confirm the prevalence levels of use of psychedelics or their circulating number in the real-world market, but they do suggest the interest shown by psychonauts towards these categories of substances.

Although most websites scanned by the web crawler were here psychonauts’ websites, it is possible that some chemical names and structures stated in web discussion fora were potentially incorrect. However, a thorough analysis and data evaluation was carried out.

The NPS finder ® has been conducted so far only on the surface web. Further studies will focus on the deep web and the darknet, and a range of multidisciplinary investigations will be carried out to properly classify all the unknown molecules.

4.2. Conclusions

NPS finder ® can identify new and previously unmentioned NPS and provide information on current and future drug trends.

NPS finder ® can be used to identify novel psychedelic molecules shortly after they are mentioned on the web for the first time. This information can be used for law-making, monitoring/surveillance, pharmacovigilance, law-enforcement, understanding sales and use, and drafting treatment/management guidelines and educational packages.

The NPS finder ® web-crawler can be used as an effective monitoring tool against drug problems, as it scans the web systematically, consistently, and globally.

The monitoring ability of NPS finder ®may be useful in the current situation the world is facing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as individuals seek to self-medicate to deal with the trauma of isolation and anxiety about the virus.

Contributors

FS, AV, VC, FN, CZ, DA, LG and JMC conceived the idea of the manuscript, and FS, AG and JMC contributed to the literature overview and the drafting of the paper itself.