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Apps Promoting Illicit Drugs—A Need for Tighter Regulation?

2014; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 18; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/15398285.2014.869166

1539-8293

Nasser F BinDhim, Sundresan Naicker, Becky Freeman, Kevin McGeechan, Lyndal Trevena,

Spam and Phishing Detection

Abstract This study describes the content and functions of applications that promote illicit drug use (apps) in smartphone app stores (i.e., Apple App Store and Google Play), and measures the overall growth of these apps over a three-month period. Moreover, we investigate whether the app stores' regulation systems are exposing children and adolescents around the world to these apps. We identify a large and expanding pro-illicit-substances repository within smartphone app stores, which should raise concerns over public health. The content rating criteria used by app stores are insufficient, and government intervention may be necessary to enforce proper standardization of app-rating processes. KEYWORDS: AppsGlobal healthhealth policyillicit drugpublic healthSmartphone Notes Color versions of one or more of the figures in the article can be found online at www.tandfonline.com/wchi Additional informationNotes on contributorsNASSER F. BINDHIM Nasser F. BinDhim (nbin6641@uni.sydney.edu.au) is a PhD candidate at Sydney School of Public Health, Sydney Medical School, Edward Ford Building (A27), The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. SUNDRESAN NAICKER Sundresan Naicker (snai2338@uni.sydney.edu.au) is a PhD candidate at Sydney School of Public Health, Sydney Medical School, Edward Ford Building (A27), The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. BECKY FREEMAN Becky Freeman (becky.freeman@sydney.edu.au) is a Lecturer at Sydney School of Public Health, Sydney Medical School, Edward Ford Building (A27), The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. KEVIN MCGEECHAN Kevin McGeechan, MBiostat PhD (kevin.mcgeechan@sydney.edu.au) is Senior Lecturer in Biostatistics at Sydney School of Public Health, Sydney Medical School, Edward Ford Building (A27), The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. LYNDAL TREVENA Lyndal Trevena (lyndal.trevena@sydney.edu.au) is an Associate Professor at Sydney School of Public Health, Sydney Medical School, Edward Ford Building (A27), The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.