"Etazene, safer than heroin and fentanyl": Non-fentanyl Novel Synthetic Opioid Listings on One Darknet Market

Author(s)

Francois R. Lamy, Department of Society and Health, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Mahidol University, Salaya, Thailand
Raminta Daniulaityte, College of Health Solutions, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, United States
Monica J. Barratt, National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, UNSW Sydney, NSW, Australia
Usha Lokala, University of South Carolina - ColumbiaFollow
Amit Sheth, University of South Carolina - ColumbiaFollow
Robert G. Carlson, Center for Interventions, Treatment, and Addictions Research, Department of Population and Public Health Sciences, Wright State University, Dayton, OH, United States

Document Type

Paper

Abstract

Background

Novel synthetic opioids are fueling the overdose deaths epidemic in North America. Recently, non-fentanyl novel synthetic opioids have emerged in forensic toxicological results. Cryptomarkets have become important platforms of distribution for illicit substances. This article presents the data concerning the availability trends of novel non-fentanyl synthetic opioids listed on one cryptomarket.

Methods

Listings from the EmpireMarket cryptomarket "Opiates" section were collected between June 2020 and August 2020. Collected data were processed using eDarkTrends Named Entity Recognition algorithm to identify novel synthetic opioids, and to analyze their availability trends in terms of frequency of listings, available average weights, average prices, quantity sold, and geographic indicators of shipment origin and destination information.

Results

35,196 opioid-related listings were collected through 12 crawling sessions. 17 nonfentanyl novel synthetic opioids were identified in 2.9 % of the collected listings for an average of 9.2 kg of substance available at each data point. 587 items advertised as non-fentanyl novel synthetic opioids were sold on EmpireMarket for a total weight of between 858 g and 2.7 kg during the study period. 45.5 % of these listings were advertised as shipped from China.

Conclusions

Fourteen of the 17 non-fentanyl novel synthetic opioids were identified for the first time on one large cryptomarket suggesting a shift in terms of novel non-fentanyl synthetic opioids availability. This increased heterogeneity of available novel synthetic opioids could reduce the efficiency of existing overdose prevention strategies. Identification of new opioids underpins the value of cryptomarket data for early warning systems of emerging substance use trends.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2021.108790

Publication Info

Drug and Alcohol Dependence, Volume 225, Fall 2021.

Rights

2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

APA Citation

Lamy, F. R., Daniulaityte, R., Barratt, M. J., Lokala, U., Sheth, A., & Carlson, R. G. (2021). “Etazene, safer than heroin and fentanyl”: Non-fentanyl novel synthetic opioid listings on one darknet market. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 225, 108790. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2021.108790