Analysis of new psychoactive substances in narcotic cases sent to Gaziantep forensic toxicology laboratory in TWO thousand twenty one

New Psychoactive substances (NPS) are defined by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime as "substances that are abused in pure form or in preparation, not controlled by the Convention on Narcotic Drugs (1961) or the Convention on Psychotropic Substances (1971), but posing a threat to public health". . The term "new" does not mean that the substance must have been newly synthesized, but rather that the substance has been put on the market recently, even though it was synthesized many years ago. Considering the large number of substances classified as NPS, the rapid entry and exit of these substances into the drug market, the users' misinformation about the substance's content or no knowledge of the substance's content, and the varying and often unknown potency of the substance, it is a big deal. they are dangerous. In our study, the 5F-EMB PICA, which was accepted as NPS by the quantitative analysis to be performed on the liquid chromatography sequential mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) device, from the urine and blood samples of 250 participants sent to our Gaziantep University Forensic Toxicology laboratory by the prosecutor's office or the courts for drug/stimulant investigation. It was aimed to determine the frequency of use of MDMB- 4-en PINACA, Isotonitazen, 3-Fluoroamphetamine, 2-Methylamphetamine, Flualprazolam in 2021 for a total of 3 months. Apart from this analysis, a questionnaire including questions about drug use habits was applied to the users. It was determined that 94% of the volunteers participating in the study were male, the average age was 28.2 ± 6.37, the average age of starting substance use was 19.51 ± 7.25, and the duration of substance use was 6.34 ± 5.77 on a yearly basis. MDMB-4-en PINACA substance was detected in 18.4% of 250 volunteers, and other NPS group substances within the scope of the study were not found. MDMB-4-en PINACA was detected in 18% of all urine samples and 12.4% of blood samples. We think that MDMB-4-en PINACA substance, about which there is not much information in the literature, is important in terms of determining the frequency of use in our region, even in a short period of time. We believe that this substance should be added to the systematics of laboratories carrying out toxicological examinations.