Skip to main content Skip to main menu
National Drug Early Warning System (NDEWS) Funded to the University of Florida by the National Institute on Drug Abuse
SUBSCRIBE TO NDEWS WEEKLY BRIEFINGS
Novel Surveillance Overview

Online Monitoring

Social media platforms provide a unique indicator of activity in the rapidly changing market for new psychoactive substances (NPS). On the popular Reddit website, drug-related discussion occurs in user-generated subreddits dedicated to a drug, a class of drugs, or more general topics related to drug use or experimentation. The contents of drug subreddit discussions can be useful for estimating temporal trends in NPS use, including early and real-time identification of emerging drugs.

In collaboration with the Machine Perception and Cognitive Robotics (MPCR) Lab, under the direction of Dr. Elan Barenholtz, and NIDA T32 fellow Daniel Van Zant, the NDEWS Coordinating Center has developed an online monitoring platform for early detection of NPS in drug subreddits. Trends in drug discussion are quantified through anonymized, aggregate keyword counts derived from algorithmic monitoring of ~80 drug-oriented subreddits. Keyword metrics count mentions over time of keywords that refer to a drug. Machine learning models are employed for automated detection and aggregation of drug keywords.

In combination, these methods detect drug-related activity that is anomalous and potentially indicative of an emerging trend in the development or use of novel substances. Validation on historical trends reveals that detection of an NPS in drug subreddit discussion is predictive of its subsequent emergence in toxicology data and other real-world signals. Early detection of NPS trends by online monitoring serves as a source for further investigation and collaboration with NDEWS partners.

Archived Online Monitoring Alerts

2025

  • 05/16/2025 – Heroin (Heroin, Chivas)
  • 04/11/2025 – Medetomidine (Drug Terms: Medetomidine, Domitor®)
  • 03/28/2025 – Poppers (Drug Terms: Poppers, Alkyl nitrites)
  • 03/21/2025 – Tucibi (Drug Terms: Tucibi, tusi, tussi, pink cocaine, pink tusi)
  • 03/14/2025 – Pediatric Fentanyl Exposures
    • Search Methodology – Two targeted searches on Reddit were conducted to analyze discussions about nonfatal pediatric fentanyl exposure. This approach allowed for systematic identification of relevant content while capturing the intersection between youth involvement and poisoning incidents.
      • Youth and Fentanyl Search: Identified posts mentioning fentanyl in connection with young people by searching for terms related to children, teens, students, schools, and family relationships alongside fentanyl references.
      • Fentanyl Poisoning Search: Collected posts discussing fentanyl poisonings by searching for mentions of overdoses, accidental exposures, medical interventions (like Narcan), and contaminated substances. Only posts that mentioned poisonings in conjunction with discussions about youth were considered for the discussion write-up.
  • 03/07/2025 – Mushroom Gummies (Drug Terms: mushroom gummies, mushroom gummy, Diamond Shruumz, Road Trip Desert Stardust)
  • 02/28/2020 – Rilmazafone (Drug Terms: Rilmazafone, rilmazolam, rhythmy, 450191-S, リスミー)
  • 02/21/2025 – Methallylescaline (Drug Terms: MAL, methallylescaline)
  • 02/14/2025 – Dextromethorphan & Promethazine (Drug Terms Dextromethorphan: Dextromethorphan, DXM, Robitussin | Drug Terms Promethazine: Promethazine, Phenargan)
  • 02/07/2025 – Quetiapine (Drug Terms: Quetiapine, Seroquel)
  • 01/24/2025 – 4-HO-MET (Drug Terms: Metocin, Methylcybin, 4HO, Colour)
  • 01/10/2025 – 4-MeTMP (Drug Terms: 4-methylmethylphenidate)
  • 01/10/2025 – 2-FXE (Drug Terms: 2-FXE, CanKet, 2F-NENK, 2F-NENDCK, 2-F-2-Oxo-PCE)

2024

2023

2022

Last modified: 01/27/2025

NDEWS is funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse to the University of Florida (MPI: Cottler (contact), Co-Is: Goldberger, Nixon, Striley), New York University (MPI: Palamar), and Florida Atlantic University (Co-I: Barenholtz).