Participant Information and Privacy Notice

NEWS Survey on Psychoactive Substance Use and Emerging Trends

Thank you for your interest in participating in our survey.

What is this survey about?

The aim of the National Early Warning System (NEWS) project, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Health, is to establish a national early warning system to identify emerging developments related to psychoactive substances and the non-medical use of medicines at an early stage. The project seeks to inform relevant target groups—including people who use these substances and professionals working in addiction support services—and to provide timely warnings about potentially harmful trends. This survey is an important component of the project and contributes to continuous monitoring and the identification of emerging developments.

What does participation involve?

Completing the questionnaire will take approximately 5–15 minutes. The survey includes questions about emerging developments you may have observed regarding psychoactive substance use, as well as your own substance use during the past 12 months.

As a small token of appreciation, you will have the opportunity to enter a prize draw at the end of the survey. Five €50 Wunschgutschein gift vouchers will be awarded.

If you choose to participate in the prize draw, we will ask you to provide your email address. Your email address will be stored separately from your survey responses, making it impossible for us to link your identity to the information you provide in the questionnaire.

The survey findings will be summarized in a brief report and are expected to be published on the Mindzone website (https://mindzone.info/) by the end of 2026.

Who can participate?

The survey is intended for individuals who:

• are 16 years of age or older, and

• have used at least one psychoactive substance within the past 12 months (excluding nicotine, caffeine, and medications taken as prescribed by a healthcare professional).

Who can you contact if you have questions?

If you have any questions about the survey or encounter any difficulties while completing the questionnaire, please contact the project team (see below).

Voluntary participation

Participation in this survey is entirely voluntary. You may withdraw from the survey at any time without giving a reason.

If you wish to withdraw and have all information collected up to that point deleted immediately, please click "Cancel and Delete Responses".

If you wish to withdraw from the survey but agree that we may use the data collected up to that point for research purposes, please click "Cancel and Submit Responses".

Only data that are necessary for the purposes of this research project will be collected. All information you provide, as well as any personal communications, will be treated confidentially. Everyone involved in the project and the analysis of the data is bound by confidentiality obligations.

What happens to your data?

Your data will be processed exclusively for the purposes of this research project.

The survey is conducted using SoSci Survey. Both the survey software and all survey data are hosted by SoSci Survey in a certified data centre located in Germany. SoSci Survey complies with Germany's high standards for data protection and information security (see https://www.soscisurvey.de/index.php?page=privacy). Communication with the SoSci Survey server is encrypted using SSL, and no IP addresses are recorded.

At the end of the data collection period (expected to be 30 September 2026), the survey data will be anonymised and stored at the IFT Institute for Therapy Research in Munich. In accordance with the current recommendations of the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the German Society for Epidemiology (DGEpi) regarding good scientific practice, fully anonymised survey data will be retained for at least 10 years following publication of the project report (expected at the end of 2026).

Email addresses collected for the optional prize draw will be deleted no later than two weeks after the prize draw has taken place.

Access to the system is restricted to authorised institute staff using password-protected accounts with the highest security level. Local workstations are accessible only to members of the respective project team and operate with restricted user permissions (i.e. without administrator rights). The entire system is protected against external attacks through appropriate security measures, including antivirus software and firewalls, and is professionally maintained on a daily basis by a qualified system administrator.

Who can you contact if you have questions?

If you have any questions about the survey or experience any difficulties while completing the questionnaire, please contact the responsible project team:

Esther Neumeier, Dipl.-Psych. (Principal Investigator)

Dr. Heiko Bergmann, M.Sc. Psychologie (Research Associate)


IFT Institut für Therapieforschung

Leopoldstraße 175, 80804 Munich

Telephone: 089 360804 0


E-Mail: news-projekt@ift.de

Legal Representative: Prof. Dr. Eva Hoch, Hubertus Reincke (Managing Director of IFT)