Emergence of New Classes of Recreational Drugs—Synthetic Cannabinoids and Cathinones

Abstract

Designer drugs represent an increasingly popular form of recreational substance abuse, especially amongst young adults. The two classes of designer drugs that have recently risen to prominence are the synthetic cannabinoids and synthetic cathinones. These substances are not detected by conventional drug screening methods and can often be associated with serious health consequences, including seizures, renal failure and death. Thus, clinicians should be familiar with the signs, symptoms, and toxicities associated with the use of these substances, and maintain a high level of suspicion for synthetic drugs as an alternative means of "getting high." We present a case of a 20-year-old college student who presented to the emergency department with altered mental status and severe agitation who later admitted to using bath salts. The goal of this article is to raise awareness about these new designer drugs, their clinical presentation, and management of their intoxication.

In vivo detection of the new psychoactive substance AM-694 and its metabolites

“…These substances, well known as "designer drugs", "legal highs", "herbal highs", or "bath salts", are mainly marketed to teens and young adults since they are relatively inexpensive, easily available on the Internet and are not detectable by routine drug screening tests. The two main classes of NPS are the synthetic cathinones and the synthetic cannabinoids (SCs), [1,2]. In particular, SCs refer to compounds that act as cannabinoid receptor agonists and mimic the effect of Δ 9 -tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), inducing, among others, analgesia, catalepsy, hypomobility and hypothermia [3][4][5].…”

Molecularly imprinted polymer solid‐phase extraction of synthetic cathinones from urine and whole blood samples

“…In recent years, the abuse of new psychoactive substances (NPSs) has increased globally, resulting in more frequent road accidents, need for emergency transportations, and even fatalities. Synthetic cathinones (SCs) are a major class of NPSs that first appeared on the European illicit drug market in 2005 and became popular in early 2009 as components of various products sold as “bath salts” or “plant food” . These compounds possess a β‐ketophenyethylamine skeleton, and have a stimulating effect on the central nervous system, similar to that of amphetamine, methamphetamine, and 3,4‐methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) .…”

Alpha-PVP induces the rewarding effect via activating dopaminergic neuron

“…Synthetic cathinones are often found in the designer drugs sold as "bath salts", "fertilizers", "plant food", or "glass cleaners" (German et al, 2014;Watterson and Olive, 2014;Meyers et al, 2015;Namera et al, 2015) and can be easily purchased over the Internet (Prosser and Nelson, 2012;Khullar et al, 2014). Synthetic cathinones are derivatives of cathinone, a constituent of Catha edulis (Khat; Fratantonio et al, 2015;Watterson and Olive, 2014), and their chemical structures and psychiatric effects such as, hypertension, aggression, agitation, and paranoia (Capriola et al, 2013;Schifano et al, 2015) are similar to amphetamine (Schifano et al, 2015).…”