{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,16]],"date-time":"2026-06-16T14:36:51Z","timestamp":1781620611100,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":45,"publisher":"Wiley","issue":"12","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,26]],"date-time":"2025-08-26T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1756166400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003747","name":"Department of Health, State Government of Victoria","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003747","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000925","name":"National Health and Medical Research Council","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["GNT2001107"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["GNT2001107"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000925","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["onlinelibrary.wiley.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Addiction"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,12]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background and aim<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>There is growing evidence of counterfeit benzodiazepine products containing other substances, including non\u2010regulated benzodiazepine\u2010type new psychoactive substances (NPSs). This study sought to compare detections of seized suspect counterfeit alprazolam products with clinical cases that reported use of an alprazolam\u2010containing product to better characterise community use.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Design and setting<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Observational study set in Victoria, Australia, using data from the Victoria Police Drug Sciences Group (which compiles information about seized drugs submitted for evidential analysis and intelligence purposes) and the Emerging Drugs Network of Australia \u2013 Victoria (EDNAV) project (a prospective, observational study collecting clinical and analytical data for illicit drug\u2010related presentations across a network of hospitals in Victoria, Australia).<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Cases<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Police seizures expected to contain alprazolam (March 2020 and August 2022) and EDNAV cases with a reported exposure to an alprazolam\u2010containing product (September 2020 and August 2022).<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Measurements<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Descriptive study outlining drug detections in seized tablets and blood samples from EDNAV cases, comparing patterns of detection and changes over time.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Findings<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      A total of 623 police seizures were analysed, most commonly products labelled as \u2018Xanax\u00ae\u2019 (\n                      <jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009=\u2009266), \u2018Kalma\u00ae\u2019 (\n                      <jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009=\u2009196) or \u2018Mylan\u00ae\u2019 (\n                      <jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009=\u2009124). Thirty percent of seizures contained alprazolam only. A benzodiazepine\u2010type NPS was detected in 375 seizures (60.2%). Exposure to non\u2010prescribed alprazolam was reported in 11.2% (\n                      <jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009=\u2009125\/1112) of EDNAV cases, with 68.8% identifying as male and a median age of 26\u2009years (range 16\u201368\u2009years). Eighty\u2010seven cases reported the use of \u2018Xanax\u00ae\u2019. Alprazolam was detected in 19 EDNAV cases. A benzodiazepine\u2010type NPS was detected in 78.4% of EDNAV cases. Both datasets saw a shift in detections from etizolam (2020) to clonazolam (2021) and then clobromazolam (2022).\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Suspect counterfeit alprazolam products seized by police in Victoria, Australia, in 2020 and 2022 commonly contained other drugs and\/or new psychoactive substances, with an apparent limited consumer awareness of the tablet composition.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1111\/add.70174","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,26]],"date-time":"2025-08-26T10:06:52Z","timestamp":1756202812000},"page":"2465-2475","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Counterfeit \u2018Xanax\u00ae\u2019 tablets: A comparative study of clinical and seizure data in Victoria, Australia"],"prefix":"10.1111","volume":"120","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8109-164X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rebekka","family":"Syrjanen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Forensic Medicine Monash University  Southbank Victoria Australia"},{"name":"Victorian Poisons Information Centre, Austin Health Austin Hospital  Heidelberg Victoria Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7423-2467","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Shaun L.","family":"Greene","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Victorian Poisons Information Centre, Austin Health Austin Hospital  Heidelberg Victoria Australia"},{"name":"Emergency Department, Austin Health Austin Hospital  Heidelberg Victoria Australia"},{"name":"Department of Critical Care, Melbourne Medical School The University of Melbourne  Parkville Victoria Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4649-1813","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sarah E.","family":"Hodgson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Victorian Poisons Information Centre, Austin Health Austin Hospital  Heidelberg Victoria Australia"},{"name":"Emergency Department, Austin Health Austin Hospital  Heidelberg Victoria Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5377-7580","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rachelle","family":"Abouchedid","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Victorian Poisons Information Centre, Austin Health Austin Hospital  Heidelberg Victoria Australia"},{"name":"Emergency Department, Bendigo Health Bendigo Hospital  Bendigo Victoria Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7958-8235","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Dimitri","family":"Gerostamoulos","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Forensic Medicine Monash University  Southbank Victoria Australia"},{"name":"Toxicology Department Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine  Southbank Victoria Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Christie","family":"Magee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Victoria Police Forensic Services Department Drug Sciences Group  Macleod Victoria Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Melissa","family":"Bremner","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Victoria Police Forensic Services Department Drug Sciences Group  Macleod Victoria Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8870-6272","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jennifer L.","family":"Schumann","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Forensic Medicine Monash University  Southbank Victoria Australia"},{"name":"Toxicology Department Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine  Southbank Victoria Australia"},{"name":"Monash Addiction Research Centre Monash University  Frankston Victoria Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"name":"Emerging Drugs Network of Australia \u2013 Victoria (EDNAV) research group","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"311","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,26]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_2_10_2_1","volume-title":"Trade in Counterfeit Pharmaceutical Products [Internet]","author":"Organisation for Economic Co\u2010operation and Development European Union 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