New psychoactive substances and altered consciousness: An emerging challenge for public health

Simone Esposito; Francesco Coletta; Francesca  Schettino; Pasquale Rinaldi; Antonio Tomasello; Gilda Pasta; Romolo Villani

doi:10.7416/ai.2026.18252

New psychoactive substances and altered consciousness: An emerging challenge for public health

Authors

Simone Esposito Emergency Anesthesia, Burn Intensive Care Unit and Poison Control Center, A.O.R.N. “A. Cardarelli”, Naples, Italy
Francesco Coletta Emergency Anesthesia, Burn Intensive Care Unit and Poison Control Center, A.O.R.N. “A. Cardarelli”, Naples, Italy https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6864-6655
Francesca Schettino Emergency Anesthesia, Burn Intensive Care Unit and Poison Control Center, A.O.R.N. “A. Cardarelli”, Naples, Italy https://orcid.org/0009-0001-1880-9313
Pasquale Rinaldi Emergency Anesthesia, Burn Intensive Care Unit and Poison Control Center, A.O.R.N. “A. Cardarelli”, Naples, Italy https://orcid.org/0009-0005-2088-6317
Antonio Tomasello Emergency Anesthesia, Burn Intensive Care Unit and Poison Control Center, A.O.R.N. “A. Cardarelli”, Naples, Italy https://orcid.org/0009-0005-6108-4097
Gilda Pasta Department of Anesthesiology, Pain Therapy and Intensive Care, INT IRCCS G. Pascale Foundation, Naples, Italy https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0245-9670
Romolo Villani Emergency Anesthesia, Burn Intensive Care Unit and Poison Control Center, A.O.R.N. “A. Cardarelli”, Naples, Italy https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7572-0721

Keywords:

New Psychoactive Substances, Altered Consciousness

Abstract

References

1. Hindson SA, Andrews RC, Danson MJ, van der Kamp MW, Manley AE, Sutcliffe OB, et al. Synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists are monoamine oxidase-a selective inhibitors. FEBS J. 2023;290(12):3243–57. doi:10.1111/febs.16741

2. Wells DL, Ott CA. The "new" marijuana. Ann Pharmacother. 2011;45(3):414–7. doi:10.1345/aph.1P580

3. Warrick BJ, Hill M, Hekman K, Christensen R, Goetz R, Casavant MJ, et al. A 9-state analysis of designer stimulant, "bath salt," hospital visits reported to poison control centers. Ann Emerg Med. 2013;62(3):244–51. doi:10.1016/j.annemergmed.2012.12.017

4. Kondziella D, Amiri M, Othman MH, Beghi E, Bodien YG, Citerio G, et al; Curing Coma Campaign Collaborators. Incidence and prevalence of coma in the UK and the USA. Brain Commun. 2022;4(5):fcac188. doi:10.1093/braincomms/fcac188

5. Grafinger KE, Liechti ME, Liakoni E. Clinical value of analytical testing in patients presenting with new psychoactive substances intoxication. Br J Clin Pharmacol. 2020;86(3):429–36. doi:10.1111/bcp.14115

Downloads

Published

2026-03-10

Issue

Vol. 38 No. 1 (2026)

Section

Letter to the Editor

License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Transfer of Copyright and Permission to Reproduce Parts of Published Papers.
Authors retain the copyright for their published work. No formal permission will be required to reproduce parts (tables or illustrations) of published papers, provided the source is quoted appropriately and reproduction has no commercial intent. Reproductions with commercial intent will require written permission and payment of royalties.

How to Cite

Esposito S, Coletta F, Schettino F, et al. New psychoactive substances and altered consciousness: An emerging challenge for public health. Ann Ig. 2026;38(1):18252. doi:10.7416/ai.2026.18252

Download Citation