Dangerous highs.raymondclarkeimages/Flickr, CC BY-NC
Synthetic cannabinoids are getting stronger and more dangerous
As part of a group of researchers from Australia, New Zealand and the United States, we studied the ability of several synthetic cannabinoids that were commonly available in the past few years to elicit a response from CB1R – the cannabinoid receptor in the brain.
The synthetic cannabinoids we tested that were commonly available during 2011-2013 were several times as potent as THC. But the latest drugs from 2014-2015 were up to 700 times more potent. In these tests most synthetic cannabinoids fully activated CB1R. THC, on the other hand, does not fully activate the receptor. This difference may account for the greater toxicity of these synthetic cannabinoids.
Serious illnesses due to cannabis are exceedingly rare, while those due to synthetic cannabinoid use are becoming more common. A recent report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated that there were 3,572 calls to poison centers in the United States in the first half of this year due to synthetic cannabinoids, a 229% increase from the same period in 2014. More concerning is the fact that clusters of synthetic cannabinoid overdose are associated with the newest drugs.
Thousands of people wound up in emergency rooms as a result of outbreaks in Alabama, Mississippi, and New York in April and May alone. Some of these cases were linked to MAB-CHMINACA, but others are likely due to synthetic cannabinoids so new they have not been identified.
Deaths due to synthetic cannabinoids have been climbing steadily as new variants emerge. During the Mississippi outbreak in April alone there were nine deaths associated with synthetic cannabinoid use.
[nextpagelink][/nextpagelink]