Officers seized 1 kilogram of synthetic cannabinoids in brightly-colored baggies with labels like "Geeked Up." Besides New Haven, synthetic cannabinoids have trickled into other cities over the past several months.
|
|
Hilton admitted in court to using marijuana, synthetic cannabinoids and cocaine.
|
|
We urge people not to use synthetic cannabinoids now or ever.
|
|
But today's second generation of synthetic cannabinoids is far less understood.
|
|
Among these, 456 cases reported by 50 sites involved synthetic cannabinoids.
|
|
VICE: I'm really curious as to how synthetic cannabinoids are produced.
|
|
If Cannabis were federally legal, people wouldn't be using synthetic cannabinoids.
|
|
Pot: The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is banning three synthetic cannabinoids.
|
|
Despite the constantly changing chemical formulas, synthetic cannabinoids are considered illegal.
|
|
Synthetic cannabinoids accounted for almost 61 percent of "new drug" seizures.
|
|
This is not the first outbreak of overdoses related to synthetic cannabinoids.
|
|
In contrast, synthetic cannabinoids fully activate both receptors, leading to unpredictable effects.
|
|
Here's the thing: This wasn't the first outbreak associated with synthetic cannabinoids.
|
|
Synthetic cannabinoids originated in a quest to create a better pain medication.
|
|
Two, it didn't allow the sale of mephedrone or synthetic cannabinoids (spice).
|
|
A postmortem toxicology test came back negative for all substances, including synthetic cannabinoids.
|
|
The DEA said Tuesday it will schedule six "synthetic cannabinoids" as illegal drugs.
|
|
Nahmani had been convicted of possession of synthetic cannabinoids with intent to distribute.
|
|
A few other companies offer plant-derived pharmaceuticals and synthetic cannabinoids for research.
|
|
That's because synthetic cannabinoids are uniquely positioned to evade typical drug-prohibition techniques.
|
|
Drug users who turn to synthetic cannabinoids are playing Russian roulette, Payne said.
|
|
The first synthetic cannabinoids were created by well-intentioned scientists back in the 1980s.
|
|
Synthetic cannabinoids in general have been associated with temporary psychosis, hallucinations, and cardiovascular problems.
|
|
The clandestine labs that create synthetic cannabinoids "would be fairly sophisticated operations," Bell said.
|
|
Synthetic cannabinoids are particularly troubling because their composition and effects can be so unpredictable.
|
|
Interviews with 63 of the Illinois patients revealed that all had used synthetic cannabinoids.
|
|
There are several hundred known synthetic cannabinoids and new ones are relatively easy to concoct.
|
|
The effects of these synthetic cannabinoids can be very different from those of ordinary cannabis.
|
|
In 61% of the cases, synthetic cannabinoids were the only poison in the patient's system.
|
|
Retailers who sell synthetic cannabinoids face suspension or revocation of their Cigarette Retail Dealer license.
|
|
"We've been dealing with synthetic cannabinoids for the last 10 to 11 years," Payne says.
|
|
"A working hypothesis is the synthetic cannabinoids were contaminated with brodifacoum," according to the CDC.
|
|
Finally, there is a risk that synthetic cannabinoids can damage both the muscles and kidneys.
|
|
There are hand-held detectors that can help identify some but not most synthetic cannabinoids.
|
|
"Synthetic cannabinoids, such as 4-CCB, act on the same receptors as THC, but the effects of synthetic cannabinoids can be unpredictable and severe or even life-threatening," lead author Roberta Horth, an officer with the CDC's Epidemic Intelligence Service, told Gizmodo via email.
|
|
The heightened potency of synthetic cannabinoids likely accounts for the severity of the New York cases.
|
|
But what is also happening is that the synthetic cannabinoids are being mixed with other drugs.
|
|
There is no way to know which synthetic cannabinoids are actually in the product you purchased.
|
|
Prosecutors allege that Smith sold synthetic cannabinoids to both Anthony Phillips and his girlfriend on April 1313.
|
|
Synthetic cannabinoids, sold under names such as K2 or Spice, are dangerous enough without anything else added.
|
|
Originally, synthetic cannabinoids were developed by researchers over the past 30 years to investigate the cannabinoid system.
|
|
So they're making drugs for baldness, acne, synthetic cannabinoids, antibiotics, ketamine derivatives—all in the same labs.
|
|
The FDA has already approved synthetic cannabinoids to alleviate the side effects of treatments such as chemotherapy.
|
|
Hilton admitted in court to using marijuana and synthetic cannabinoids, a US Attorney's Office spokesperson tells People.
|
|
Synthetic cannabinoids are sold in convenience stores, gas stations, drug paraphernalia shops, novelty stores and even online.
|
|
Even with outbreaks aside, synthetic cannabinoids are 30 times more likely to harm you than regular marijuana.
|
|
Even within the realm of synthetic cannabinoids, the first generation synthetic cannabinoids that came out around 2009 like cannabicyclohexanol and JWH-073 were relatively benign and well tolerated, but they were prohibited and it eventually lead to compounds like MDMB-FUBINACA that have a very narrow safety margin.
|
|
Most were synthetic cannabinoids, and in second place were synthetic bath salts, known on the street as flakka.
|
|
Sexual risk-taking Almost two-thirds of the surveyed students said they'd never used marijuana or synthetic cannabinoids.
|
|
"It is possible that other products could contain 4-CCB or other dangerous synthetic cannabinoids," she said. [CDC]
|
|
Synthetic cannabinoids, chemicals that hit the same brain receptors as cannabis but are much more potent and addictive.
|
|
One of the most prominent categories of designer drugs are those intended to mimic marijuana, called synthetic cannabinoids.
|
|
Last week, the BBC reported that NPS, and in particular synthetic cannabinoids, were being sold on the street.
|
|
This order will prohibit people from manufacturing, distributing, possessing, or even researching these synthetic cannabinoids, the agency said.
|
|
A latecomer among synthetic cannabinoids, coumarin derivatives were first identified in a 2012 Journal of Medicinal Chemistry paper.
|
|
They did not intend for illegal drug labs to use their recipe to mass-produce these synthetic cannabinoids.
|
|
On July 4, more than a dozen people in New Haven overdosed on synthetic cannabinoids, according to CBS News.
|
|
On synthetic cannabinoids, we had experimented with thousands of compounds and extracts and did a huge amount of research.
|
|
Even prior to the recent outbreak, synthetic cannabinoids have been known to cause temporary psychosis, hallucinations, and sometimes death.
|
|
Synthetic cannabinoids are sometimes called "fake weed" because they are labmade chemicals sprayed on shredded leaves to resemble marijuana.
|
|
Synthetic cannabinoids are also known as synthetic marijuana or fake weed, or by the brand names K2 and Spice.
|
|
"It's not substantially different than the other synthetic cannabinoids we are seeing," the DEA's Lawrence Payne told BuzzFeed News.
|
|
Synthetic cannabinoids are also known as synthetic marijuana or fake weed, or by brand names like K2 and Spice.
|
|
People who smoke synthetic cannabinoids can have rapid heart rate, vomiting, agitation, confusion and hallucinations, according to the CDC.
|
|
When it comes to synthetic cannabinoids, "what we want is for people to absolutely not use them," she said.
|
|
Synthetic cannabinoids are made mainly in labs in China and mostly distributed online or at gas station convenience stores.
|
|
And if the dangers of synthetic cannabinoids have researchers concerned, the risks of designer opioids are perhaps even greater.
|
|
Nichols has also strongly condemned a number of designer drugs, particularly synthetic cannabinoids like spice, as dangerous for consumption.
|
|
People who overdose on synthetic cannabinoids can suffer side effects such as psychosis, seizures, breathing and circulation problems, and coma.
|
|
Others said it was the proximity of two nearby methadone clinics, since synthetic cannabinoids don't show up on drug tests.
|
|
Critics have pointed out that scheduling synthetic cannabinoids hasn't stopped their sales or overdoses, as the New Haven case shows.
|
|
Even with these risks, 7 percent of high school seniors and approximately 17 percent of adults have tried synthetic cannabinoids.
|
|
More problems arise because some of the synthetic cannabinoids stimulate non-cannabinoid receptors and can cause unanticipated effects as well.
|
|
Projects funded by the foundation will identify genes to create synthetic cannabinoids so researchers don't need to grow the cannabis plant.
|
|
When we say "fake weed," we don't mean oregano or Spanish moss; these are synthetic cannabinoids sometimes called K2 or Spice.
|
|
Mostly, those who gravitate toward synthetic cannabinoids are "marginalized people," including the homeless and those affected by mental illness, he said.
|
|
"So these chemicals, which are more correctly termed 'synthetic cannabinoids,' they're designed to stimulate cannabinoid receptors in the brain," Baumann explained.
|
|
The cause: synthetic cannabinoids, also known as K2, Spice, or AK47, which induced retching, vomiting, loss of consciousness and trouble breathing.
|
|
It's manufactured as a plant substance that gets sprayed with chemicals that contain synthetic cannabinoids, and then often smoked like pot.
|
|
"The one thing we kept coming across was that all these patients had been taking synthetic cannabinoids—K2, Spice," Kelkar told Gizmodo.
|
|
While synthetic cannabinoids have been known to cause psychosis, breathing problem and even strokes, though, these sorts of symptoms were unheard of.
|
|
Marijuana, or cannabis, is widely considered one of the safest drugs, but synthetic cannabinoids are some of the most dangerous synthetic drugs.
|
|
Others have pointed to the presence of illegal synthetic cannabinoids, which have been identified in some unregulated THC and CBD vape products.
|
|
Really, Chemsky specializes in synthetic cannabinoids, fentanyl analogues, synthetic cathinones, novel benzodiazepines, and other new drugs with unpronounceable names like AB-CHFUPYCA.
|
|
But not every case seems to involve THC or more potent synthetic cannabinoids, while victims have reported using a variety of devices.
|
|
This isn't the first time a region of the United States has seen an outbreak of health problems tied to synthetic cannabinoids.
|
|
Many of the risks of synthetic cannabinoids and other illegal drugs of abuse arise because of contamination, adulteration, substitution and inconsistent dosages.
|
|
Health officials warn that anyone who has a reaction to synthetic cannabinoids immediately should call 911 or be taken to an emergency department.
|
|
Synthetic cannabinoids across Chicago and parts of central Illinois have been found to contain brodifacoum, a rat poison, according to state health officials.
|
|
Synthetic cannabinoids bind to the same receptors in the brain as marijuana's active ingredient, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), but they can produce vastly different effects.
|
|
There isn't an antidote for synthetic cannabinoids, so physicians are left to treat the symptoms that people present with after ingesting the drugs.
|
|
On Tuesday, the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) reported a second death in connection to the designer drugs, also known as synthetic cannabinoids.
|
|
According to Gerona, the scientists behind designer drugs are reading scientific journals and examining expired patents in search of formulas to create synthetic cannabinoids.
|
|
But the prisons' drug-testing kits do not detect synthetic cannabinoids, so many drug users switch to spice in order to hide their habit.
|
|
Substances advertised as "spice," a broad term for synthetic cannabinoids, are being sold by a number of different vendors across multiple dark web marketplaces.
|
|
The working theory now is that rat poison was added to synthetic cannabinoids, with most of the cases (164 so far) appearing in Illinois.
|
|
People who smoke synthetic cannabinoids can have rapid heart rate, vomiting, agitation, confusion and hallucinations, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
|
|
Serious consequences Synthetic cannabinoids can be anywhere from two to 22 times more potent than THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, the researchers said.
|
|
Synthetic cannabinoids have been found in K2 blends, along with other chemicals known to cause severe kidney damage, nausea, elevated heart rates and vomiting.
|
|
A recent report out of Florida spotlighted the spike in inmate deaths in recent years, believed to be linked to overdoses on synthetic cannabinoids.
|
|
Areas that came up again and again included: advertising technology, international opportunities for CBD and hemp, drug-delivery platforms, lab testing, and synthetic cannabinoids.
|
|
The other constituents in natural marijuana such as cannabidiol actually help to temper the negative impact of THC but are absent in synthetic cannabinoids.
|
|
Many people suffer upset stomach with synthetic cannabinoids, and vomiting is also common (which is paradoxical, since medical marijuana is used to prevent vomiting).
|
|
Even with advanced urine tests that detected dozens of types of synthetic cannabinoids, all but one of the patients tested negative for the drug.
|
|
And in April, Illinois public health officials found rat poison in a batch of synthetic cannabinoids linked to an outbreak of severe internal bleeding cases.
|
|
In Amsterdam few of the head shops selling "legal" or "herbal" alternatives to ecstasy and stimulants find it worth their while to sell synthetic cannabinoids.
|
|
The chemicals are called synthetic cannabinoids because they mimic chemicals found in marijuana, but do not actually have much in common with the plant cannabis.
|
|
Wastewater analysis promises to show real-time results for emerging drugs, including novel benzodiazepines, synthetic cannabinoids, synthetic cathinones, opioids, phenethylamines, tryptamines, and other new substances.
|
|
It led to the proliferation of dark web drug markets, and ultimately the rise of Chinese underground labs making everything from synthetic cannabinoids to fentanyl.
|
|
He was part of a report published Tuesday that looked at 23 patients from local emergency departments who were suspected of overdosing on synthetic cannabinoids.
|
|
Based on the research, she and her colleagues believe school programs and health professionals should feature not only marijuana but synthetic cannabinoids in their prevention strategies.
|
|
"These patents and publications [on synthetic cannabinoids] laid dormant, but when the internet came along, someone, somewhere saw the opportunity to make money," Wiley told Gizmodo.
|
|
Aside from being more potent than THC, though, no two products contain the same amount or mix of synthetic cannabinoids, meaning their effects can vary wildly.
|
|
Toxicology tests results released earlier this week finally confirmed prison officials' suspicions: All five inmates had died from overdosing on synthetic cannabinoids, otherwise known as K2.
|
|
"A major criminal organization that dealt in the large-scale manufacturing and distributing of synthetic cannabinoids was dismantled," U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson said in a statement.
|
|
Spice is the name collectively given to 603-300 synthetic cannabinoids, drugs that hit the same brain receptors as cannabis but are more potent and addictive.
|
|
As for the recent spate of overdoses in New Haven, authorities suggest the cause was a particularly strong batch of AB-FUBINACA or other synthetic cannabinoids.
|
|
Often billed as "natural," synthetic cannabinoids contain a mixture of herbs, spices or shredded plant material that looks like potpourri, though it's been sprayed with chemicals.
|
|
In other words, the same approach that's now being used to regulate and manage legal marijuana in several states could be used to control synthetic cannabinoids.
|
|
In addition to these myriad risks, there is also a risk that synthetic cannabinoids can be adulterated with other chemicals, ranging from opioids to rat poison.
|
|
Most overdose deaths in the Netherlands are caused not by opiates but by party drugs like amphetamines or synthetic cannabinoids, or by ecstasy, which can cause dehydration.
|
|
Methamphetamine carried the greatest risk for seeking emergency medical treatment, followed by synthetic cannabinoids, which are sold under brand names like K2 and Spice, the survey found.
|
|
But these bans have only set off an arms race, as manufacturers (likely based in China) have turned to using other synthetic cannabinoids to skirt these laws.
|
|
Instead, it looked a lot more like "spice" or K2, the street names for the ultra-cheap, illegal plant substances sprayed with chemicals that contain synthetic cannabinoids.
|
|
That said, given the black box nature of manufacturing synthetic cannabinoids and other designer drugs (usually in China), there's also no excluding the possibility of inadvertent contamination.
|
|
In America, which, unlike Britain, has banned only some synthetic cannabinoids, such views may be partly due to spice variants being sold in shops as herbal incense.
|
|
Instead of banning all synthetic drugs, the country legalized the sale of low-risk versions of synthetic cannabinoids and similar substances that were carefully tested and regulated.
|
|
The CDC has also identified instances where synthetic cannabinoids are laced with other designer synthetic drugs, like "bath salts," which can also lead to adverse side effects.
|
|
Health officials warn that anyone who has a reaction to synthetic cannabinoids, such as severe bleeding, should call 911 or be taken to an emergency department immediately.
|
|
After overdoses from drugs like K2 surged in New York in 2015, the authorities carried out months of raids and the city passed legislation banning synthetic cannabinoids.
|
|
Synthetic cannabinoids were initially designed by legitimate researchers in the U.S. and around the world who were looking to explore the function and structure of cannabinoid receptors.
|
|
In March, people in Illinois came down with bizarre symptoms of uncontrollable bleeding that were ultimately traced to synthetic cannabinoids tainted with rat poison, which contains powerful anticoagulants.
|
|
Synthetic cannabinoids were never the problem; the problem was the fact people have been selling stronger and stronger products to get ahead of their competitors, such as Annihilation.
|
|
In Pennsylvania, all prison facilities are currently on indefinite lockdown after employees said they became sick after being exposed to a mysterious substance, suspected to be synthetic cannabinoids.
|
|
In the first three months of 2015, recorded amounts of recovered synthetic cannabinoids (973g) far outweighed the quantities of cannabis (15g) and heroin (3g) seized by the prison.
|
|
Last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that more than 50 people in Utah were poisoned by fake CBD products that actually contained synthetic cannabinoids.
|
|
But eradicating synthetic cannabinoids has been a struggle as their use persists: City hospitals this year have recorded 600 emergency room visits from patients suffering from their use.
|
|
Earlier this year, an internal audit of rising inmate mortality rates in Florida's state prison facilities concluded that the uptick was linked, in part, to overdoses on synthetic cannabinoids.
|
|
" Similarly, Suzanne Bell, a forensic and analytical chemist at West Virginia University, has been looking at toxicity and byproducts of synthetic cannabinoids and "trying to understand these unusual effects.
|
|
Synthetic cannabinoids sold in Europe and America as "Spice", "K2" and "Black Mamba", among other names, are mostly produced in China; in some cases their synthesis is perfectly legal.
|
|
The most common type of NPS seized by police across Europe was found to be synthetic cannabinoids—fake weed—which currently makes up 60 percent of all NPS seizures.
|
|
Synthetic cannabinoids can be anywhere from two to 100 times more potent than natural THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
|
|
The outbreak began in early March, with the Illinois Department of Public Health reporting unexplained bleeding among people who had used synthetic cannabinoids—also known as K2 or spice.
|
|
Among 12th graders, the report found relatively low past year rates of using LSD at 3.6%; synthetic cannabinoids at 3.3%; cocaine and ecstasy at 2.2%; and heroin, at 0.4%.
|
|
Meanwhile, federal agents made a third arrest last week and charged Quentin Staggers, a local advocate for the homeless, with possession with intent to distribute synthetic cannabinoids and conspiracy.
|
|
Hilton has been on parole since 2015 and admitted in court on June 6 to using drugs including marijuana, synthetic cannabinoids and cocaine, which was a violation of his parole.
|
|
There are three major types of cannabinoids: endocannabinoids (produced naturally in humans and animals), synthetic cannabinoids (manufactured artificially) and phytocannabinoids (which are found naturally in some plants, such as cannabis).
|
|
But FAAH inhibitors are not at all similar to natural weed or even synthetic forms of it—both traditional cannabis and synthetic cannabinoids act directly on the brain's cannabinoid receptors.
|
|
Synthetic cannabinoids -- commonly known as K2 or spice -- stimulants similar to cocaine or MDMA and the notoriously dangerous synthetic known as flakka have fallen dramatically from they were last summer.
|
|
Also, despite the endless scare stories in the media, I think many people are still skeptical that synthetic cannabinoids really do get you as high or much higher than Cannabis.
|
|
"Since then, we've identified over 400 designer synthetic drugs [and] a large part of those are synthetic cannabinoids" that are sold over the counter as well as over the internet.
|
|
Synthetic cannabinoids are human-made chemicals that can be sprinkled on dried, shredded plant material and smoked or consumed as vaporized liquids inhaled through an e-cigarette or other device.
|
|
There are several hundred synthetic cannabinoids in existence, and they all stimulate cannabinoid type 1 receptors (CB1), just like the active component in natural marijuana, THC, that provides the high.
|
|
While both natural and synthetic cannabinoids act upon CB1 receptors for a psychoactive effect, the first have proven to be completely safe while the latter have been toxic and fatal.
|
|
The report mentions one incident in 2015 in Poland, where 200 people had to be rushed to the ER in Poland in less than a week after consuming synthetic cannabinoids.
|
|
He has been on parole since 2015, and previously admitted in court on June 6 to violating the terms of his parole by using drugs — including marijuana, synthetic cannabinoids and cocaine.
|
|
More Colorado kids in hospital for marijuana Synthetic cannabinoids can be anywhere from two to 100 times more potent than natural THC, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
|
|
"Teens who use synthetic cannabinoids, really, it's playing a game of Russian roulette," Dr. Robert Glatter, an emergency physician at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City told CNN in March.
|
|
Investigators are still working to identify the source of the contaminants, and in the meantime the CDC is reminding the public that synthetic cannabinoids are not safe—and never have been.
|
|
Made up entirely of chemicals designed to ape a marijuana high, experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have warned about the huge potential for contamination in synthetic cannabinoids.
|
|
In countries where they haven't been outlawed, brands of synthetic cannabinoids* are marketed as having effects that are similar to that of natural cannabis, only we know that's not the case.
|
|
Then there's the fact that according to a Drug Policy Alliance report, Colorado arrests for synthetic cannabinoids dropped by 50 percent after the state launched its legal marijuana regime in 2014.
|
|
Synthetic cannabinoids like K2 are human-made chemicals that can be either sprayed on dried plants and smoked or sold as liquids to be inhaled in e-cigarettes or other devices.
|
|
In fact, synthetic cannabinoids have a completely different chemical structure from plant-based THC, according to the study — one of the major draws for both makers and consumers of designer drugs.
|
|
Synthetic cannabinoids like K2 are man-made chemicals that can be either sprayed on dried plants and smoked or sold as liquids to be inhaled in e-cigarettes or other devices.
|
|
Since March 7, synthetic cannabinoids have sickened 153 people and been blamed in four deaths: a woman in her 30s, a man in his 40s and two men in their 20s.
|
|
Earlier this month, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned about life-threatening bleeding linked to the use of synthetic cannabinoids, often sold as spice, K2 or fake weed.
|
|
Standard drug tests do not detect synthetic cannabinoids, so users of cannabis, heroin or cocaine who are in prison, on parole or in the army switch to spice to hide their habit.
|
|
Fentanyls found a niche in pain management; the early synthetic cannabinoids had "such a mind-blowing effect", recalls David Nutt of Imperial College London, that the companies never took them to market.
|
|
If seizure data is a broad indication of the NPS marketplace, then demand for synthetic cannabinoids is on an exponential rise, while demand for other substances has been gradually falling since 2013.
|
|
"The widespread availability of synthetic cannabinoids in this environment has created a dangerous recipe for prisoner well-being, the safety of prisoners and prison staff, and the prison regime," says the report.
|
|
The synthetic cannabinoids aren't being sold or used domestically in China and the chemists certainly weren't using the drugs themselves, so if they did know, it was in some very abstract capacity.
|
|
"We continue to see new cases of individuals experiencing severe bleeding after using synthetic cannabinoids," Dr. Nirav Shah, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, said in a written statement Tuesday.
|
|
Digging deeper into the data, Clayton and her colleagues discovered that students partial to synthetic cannabinoids were significantly more likely to perform risky sexual behaviors compared with students who limited themselves to marijuana.
|
|
According to Gerona, one issue with synthetic cannabinoids is that there's such a wide variety of them, yet there's "no typical toxidrome," a catalogue of symptoms that form the basis for a diagnosis.
|
|
In an academic lab, they're produced on a small scale pretty routinely, and that's where most of these synthetic cannabinoids that are used in "spice"-type blends originated—in academic and pharmaceutical research.
|
|
In Japan, there was a trend for some time of selling synthetic cannabinoids with NMDA antagonists like diphenidine or methoxphenidine; then you're dealing with interactions between drugs that are already unknown in isolation.
|
|
The synthetic cannabinoids were found to contain rat poison and most of the hospitalizations were related to unexplained bleeding, such as coughing up blood, blood in the urine, bloody nose and bleeding gums.
|
|
Would-be pot smokers who face mandatory drug tests – including emergency first responders and active-duty service members – reportedly have turned to synthetic cannabinoids as a way to get high but stay clean.
|
|
After researchers obtained a newer version of the test that could detect up to 46 types of the drug, they found that only a quarter of the samples tested positive for synthetic cannabinoids.
|
|
In Florida, all of the nearly 100,000 inmates had to watch an informational video warning of the dangers of synthetic cannabinoids, which has now become mandatory viewing for all new inmates during intake procedures.
|
|
It reveals how the synthetic cannabinoids market "was firmly established across all prison wings, including the 'drug free' recovery wing," with between 60 to 90 percent of prisoners in the jail regular Spice smokers.
|
|
Plus, if weed's legal and easier to get, people might be less likely to use dangerous synthetic cannabinoids that can cause seizures, comas, and even death depending on what the drugs are mixed with.
|
|
The number of acute poisonings from synthetic cannabinoids rose sharply between 2010 and 2015, according to a Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2016.
|
|
"Despite the perception that synthetic cannabinoids are safe and a legal alternative to marijuana, many are illegal and can cause severe illness," said Nirav D. Shah, director of the IDPH, in a statement this week.
|
|
Since 2008, when synthetic cannabinoids were first reported in Japanese herbal supplements, they've exploded in popularity, with more than 130 chemical variations reported so far to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction.
|
|
Experts agree synthetic cannabinoids were born a few decades ago, when researchers wanted to study the effects of plant-based marijuana on the brain, but federal regulations made it difficult to legally obtain the drug.
|
|
Synthetic cannabinoids, or fake weed, are human-made chemicals that can be sprinkled on dried, shredded plant material and smoked, or can be consumed as vaporized liquids inhaled through an e-cigarette or other device.
|
|
When police visited Smith, he reportedly confessed that he sold K2—one of the many product names under which synthetic cannabinoids are sold—and that he dumped the rest of his supply in a nearby dumpster.
|
|
The ingredients are constantly changing in an effort to skirt drug laws, and, depending on the batch, synthetic cannabinoids can cause a spike in blood pressure, seizures, kidney damage, vomiting, and more, according to the DEA.
|
|
Three of the others are American, though none of them deal directly with marijuana as such: one, Scotts Miracle-Gro, makes hydroponic systems popular among pot-growers, and two others make pharmaceuticals out of synthetic cannabinoids.
|
|
A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2016 found that one of these chemically altered synthetic cannabinoids was 85 times as potent as tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the mind-altering chemical in marijuana.
|
|
Since the synthetic cannabinoids in Illinois were found to contain rat poison, most of the hospitalizations have been related to unexplained bleeding, such as coughing up blood, blood in the urine, bloody nose and bleeding gums.
|
|
One of the main reasons people say they use synthetic cannabinoids is because the substances, which commonly are marketed as potpourri or incense and not for human consumption, don't show up on most drug tests, unlike cannabis.
|
|
Synthetic cannabinoids are mind-altering chemicals that are made in a lab and sold either sprayed on shredded plant material so it can be smoked like marijuana or as liquid that can be vaporized in e-cigarettes.
|
|
Phyto Partners Managing Partner Larry Schnurmacher told Business Insider that in 2020, Phyto is focusing on international opportunities for CBD and hemp, synthetic cannabinoids produced using biosynthesis, and opportunities in advertising and marketing tech, among other things.
|
|
Instead of prohibiting new drugs such as synthetic cannabinoids as they hit the market, the law bans all substances that have an effect on the brain (bar a list of pre-approved drugs, such as alcohol and nicotine).
|
|
In early 21, when I began investigating China's role in the opioid crisis, fentanyl had begun killing more Americans annually than any drug in history, and synthetic cannabinoids like K53 were displacing marijuana and causing massive overdose outbreaks.
|
|
Last week's 22-hour mass poisoning episode in a Connecticut park opened the public's eyes to a new wave of street drugs: "synthetic cannabinoids" sold as alternatives to weed but with far more toxic and unpredictable effects, experts say.
|
|
The Army's health warning called out the risk of adulteration with synthetic cannabinoids and high concentrations of THC in these products in particular as the likely cause of many, if not all, of the CBD vaping illnesses it saw.
|
|
First developed by Pfizer as a potential cancer pain treatment, AB-FUBINACA is one of five or six very potent synthetic cannabinoids in illicit circulation right now, forensic scientist Barry Logan of NMS Labs in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, told BuzzFeed News.
|
|
Some synthetic cannabinoids have been known to cause seizures or a sort of excited delirium in certain users, and some have been known to decrease blood pressure to the point that users lose consciousness and asphyxiate on their own vomit.
|
|
Growing the stuff is mostly the preserve of the Canadians, but U.S. businesses are springing up to develop products and metaphorical picks and shovels, ranging from non-alcoholic marijuana beer to high-tech rolling machines and synthetic cannabinoids grown from yeast.
|
|
"So for example, if someone has a job where they get drug screened, they say to themselves, 'The Internet tells me if I take one of these synthetic cannabinoids, it won't be picked up on a drug screen,'" explained Brent.
|
|
The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene on Tuesday said at least 84 emergency department visits between last Saturday and Monday are believed to have been tied to synthetic cannabinoids, with most of the visits occurring in Brooklyn.
|
|
While there's not enough science to determine the long-term effects of using fake weed, "we do know that misuse of synthetic cannabinoids can cause profound adverse effects, especially the induction of panic attacks, paranoia and schizophrenic-like symptoms," Baumann says.
|
|
However, makers of synthetic cannabinoids try to get around those laws by creating products with different ingredients and labeling them "not safe for human consumption" when they may appear like a type of incense or potpourri, according to the CDC.
|
|
Police scooped up samples of the drug involved last week and shipped it to a Drug Enforcement Administration lab, which confirmed the samples contained fubinaca and pinaca, two types of synthetic cannabinoids, DEA special agent Timothy Desmond told VICE News.
|
|
If job seekers who are aware of that fact use other drugs (including the synthetic cannabinoids sold as "Spice" and "K2") in place of cannabis, both the workplace costs and the social costs of pre-employment testing might be very high indeed.
|
|
Photo: Don Ryan (AP)A poisoning outbreak traced to synthetic cannabinoids sickened at least 52 people in Utah and sent 31 to the emergency room this past winter, reveals a new report released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
|
|
According to Oliver Sutcliffe, a chemist at Manchester Metropolitan University, four different synthetic cannabinoids appeared in Manchester over a period of five weeks earlier this year, with the concentration of the active component in different batches varying by a factor of ten.
|
|
"These mini epidemics are related to new substances people know nothing about," Baumann said, adding that these "periodic, mini-epidemics of drug overdoses" in which many people face serious health consequences as a result of using synthetic cannabinoids continue across the nation.
|
|
And though they don't necessarily explain the earlier outbreak of bleeding (it's still not known how or why rat poison was put in those drugs), both these episodes make clear the lack of quality control behind the manufacturing of synthetic cannabinoids, according to Wiley.
|
|
What's different now, suggested Browne, is that the chemistry knowledge of criminal cartels worldwide has increased just as trade globalization has delivered fentanyl, synthetic cannabinoids, and industrial methamphetamine to the US. This same trend also threatens to push adulterant concentrations to higher, more dangerous levels.
|
|
After months of raids and arrests, and new legislation in the fall that banned synthetic cannabinoids and threatened businesses and owners who sold K2 with closings, hefty fines and jail time, officials announced an 85 percent reduction in K2-related emergency room visits in May.
|
|
In 2012, the US government passed the Synthetic Drug Abuse Prevention Act, which classified a number of "designer drugs," including synthetic cannabinoids and synthetic hallucinogens, under Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act -- meaning they have no accepted medical use and high potential for abuse.
|
|
In the cannabis world, there are examples of people buying what they think is cannabis or a hemp/CBD product, and it is contaminated with high potency synthetic cannabinoids, residual solvents from the extraction process, or other contaminants that directly cause severe health consequences.
|
|
There's also another possible explanation for growing lethality of K2: The supply chain for synthetic cannabinoids has evolved since the drugs first became popular about a decade ago, according to Roy Gerona, director of the clinical toxicology and environmental biomonitoring laboratory at University of California San Francisco.
|
|
The origins of synthetic cannabinoids, which target the same aspect of brain chemistry as THC, the main active compound in marijuana, and fentanyl, an opioid, date back to the late 1950s and early 1960s, when the pharmaceutical industry was looking for new medicines of all sorts.
|
|
" The study, "User Experiences of Development of Dependence on the Synthetic Cannabinoids, 5f-AKB48 and 503F-PB-22, and Subsequent Withdrawal Syndromes," described "compulsive all-consuming drug seeking and using behaviors... intense cravings... inability to cease use, with fear of the psychiatric harms caused when in withdrawal.
|
|
In the past few years, doctors have become familiar with the health outcomes people can face when they are exposed to synthetic cannabinoids, said Dr. Patrick Lank, an emergency physician and assistant professor of emergency medicine at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Illinois.
|
|
Why that particular batch of synthetic cannabinoids knocked out so many people in New Haven, Connecticut — there were more than 383 overdoses, 238 people were sent to the hospital, and many returned to the park to overdose once again — is still a mystery a week later.
|
|
Why that particular batch of synthetic cannabinoids knocked out so many people in New Haven, Connecticut — there were more than 100 overdoses, 47 people were sent to the hospital, and many returned to the park to overdose once again — is still a mystery a week later.
|
|
Photo: Spencer Platt (Getty Images)Synthetic cannabinoids are behind yet another mass overdose in the U.S. More than 70 people in New Haven, Connecticut suffered overdoses thought to be caused by the lab-made drug known as K2 within the span of a day, NBC Connecticut reported Wednesday.
|
|
According to information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, between March 1 and May 16, state health departments reported five deaths among a total of 202 cases of coagulopathy – a bleeding disorder – associated with the use of fake weed, which falls into a scientific category called synthetic cannabinoids.
|
|
We've heard multiple warnings about the havoc being caused in British prisons by the widespread use of synthetic cannabinoids (SCs): violence, debt, overdoses, and offenders out on parole deliberately committing crime so they can go back to jail with Kinder Egg capsules full of the stuff hidden up their asses.
|
|
Of course, it's not ideal to introduce a drug that has never been used outside an in-vitro binding assay into a population of thousands of humans, but this is an industry created by prohibition, and many users choose synthetic cannabinoids because they are being drug tested or because they can't afford Cannabis.
|
|
" Enforcement of the law is not the role played by the National Institute on Drug Abuse; that role is played by the Drug Enforcement Administration, whose spokesman, Rusty Payne, says synthetic cannabinoids are designed for one reason only: "to get your credit card, get you high and addicted, and keep you coming back for more.
|
|
Since this rising number of cases calls for a large amount of vitamin K and long duration of treatment -- costing up to thousands of dollars for each patient -- the Illinois Department of Public Health announced that it's working to find a way to place no financial burden on patients tied to the synthetic cannabinoids outbreak.
|
|
With a couple exceptions, the first synthetic cannabinoids to enter widespread use were called naphthoylindoles, and they are synthesized in a two step reaction where 1-napthoyl chloride, or a substituted derivative, acylates an indole and then the indole nitrogen is deprotonated with a strong base like sodium hydride and alkylated with an alkyl halide like bromopentane.
|
|
These receptors can be stimulated and modulated by compounds called endocannabinoids that are produced naturally in the body, like anandamide (ananda is the Sanskrit word for bliss); by ingesting a set of closely-related botanically-based phytocannabinoids like tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the cannabis plant's best known and most psychoactive compound; or by ingesting synthetic cannabinoids produced in a laboratory.
|
|
NEW TECH &aposREWIRES&apos BRAIN TO HELP STROKE PATIENTS REGAIN USE OF THEIR ARMS 33 people collapse in street after smoking 'K2' drug Dr. Marc Siegel shares a warning about synthetic marijuana on 'Fox & Friends' "Synthetic cannabinoids ('synthetic marijuana,' 'Spice,' 'K2') are various manmade chemicals that some people may use as an alternative to marijuana," the CDC said in a statement on its website.
|
|
"My feeling is that what is reported and what is published is still an underestimation of the actual number," he said, adding that information on synthetic cannabinoids is usually classified in the US. In their analysis, Gerona and his colleagues also discovered breakdown products of AMB-FUBINACA in the blood samples from the eight patients, who'd metabolized the product quickly, though they continued to feel its effects for hours.
|
|
Since the start of the decade, the federal government, all 503 states and cities like New York and Chicago have taken actions to crack down on synthetic cannabinoids, but law enforcement officials have been particularly frustrated by one element: Because the chemicals that induce the high come from a lab and not the soil, manufacturers have altered formulas in efforts to keep their offerings legal – and to try and stay one step ahead of the law.
|
|
One nowadays has to be more cautious about claiming that cannabis cannot produce overdose for the following main reasons (1) reports of deaths due to cardiovascular disease in heavy cannabis users... which raise the possibility that high doses of THC could cause deaths (probably in persons with elevated CVD risk; (224.7) the rise of super potent cannabis concentrates with THC > 2100% which if smoked in pipes or on nails could possibly amplify this cardiovascular risks; and (29) case reports of deaths in persons who use potent synthetic cannabinoids, i.e.
|
|