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Food and Drug Administration
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(2) In 2014, a total of 17,896 cases of drug abuse were reported by medical institutions. Results of
analysis are provided below:
a. The top-3 types of illegal drugs abused were heroin with 11,185 individual cases reported (62.5%),
(meth) amphetamine with 4,858 cases (27.1%), and ketamine with 1,626 cases (9.1%).
b. Drug types and demographics analysis found that ketamine was the most common drug abused
by those below 19 years of age. (Meth) amphetamine was the most common drug abused by
those from 20 to 29 years of age, while heroin was the most common drug abused by those 30
years of age or above.
c. The top reasons for drug abuse were
dependence
(36.6%) followed by
stress relief
(15.5%).
2. The Results of National Drug Abuse Survey in 2014
a. To understand the current status and long-term trends of drug abuse in Taiwan, TFDA conducted
the
National Drug Abuse Survey
in 2014. The main objectives of the survey was to achieve in-
depth discussions on the behaviors, cause, frequency, source of substances, and substance use
issues amongst drug abusers to assess the effectiveness of policies and provide a reference for
formulating future directives.
b. Survey results indicated that lifetime prevalence for illegal drug use was 1.29% between the ages of
12 to 64 years. The top-3 types of illegal drugs used were amphetamine, ketamine, and cannabis.
The age group between 18 to 44 years of age was most likely to commit drug abuse. The most
commonly abused drug for those between 18 to 24 years of age was ketamine, while that for
those between 35 to 44 years of age was amphetamine. The leading motivation for first-time drug
abuse was
curiosity
(66.7%) followed by
relaxation / stress relief
(14.2%),
friends already using
drugs
(13.0%), and
for recreation
(11.7%).
3. Establishment of Technology and Database for Drug Abuse
In response to the deteriorating drug abuse and addiction issues, TFDA continues to dedicate the
developing new technology and establishing databases to achieve the prevention effectively and
control of drug abuse. Important outcomes of 2014 are listed in Table 4-3.
Outcome
Benefits
Completed the synthesis of 13 standards and the establishment of
standard spectrum database of
1
H,
13
C-NMR, FTIR, GC-MS, and HRMS
To meet the test demands, the Standards
are extremely expensive or not commercially
available in Taiwan
Optimized spectrum conditions for 203 standards (including amphetamine,
cathinone, tryptamines, opioids, marjuana, synthetic cannabinoids,
cocaine, benzodiazepine and its metabolic derivatives) as well as
established secondary fragment mass spectrum database
To quickly screen the known or unknown
abuse drugs to prevent drug abuse
Developed the pre-treatment and GC-MS instrument methods for nine
items of synthetic cannabinoids such as JWH-018, JWH-122, JWH-250
and its metabolites in the urine
To accelerate drug abuse analysis time to
track trends in drug abuse
Table 4-3
Major achievements of drug abuse assay technologies and database establishment