International trends in spice use: Prevalence, motivation for use, relationship to other substances, and perception of use and safety for synthetic cannabinoids

Loeffler, George; Delaney, Eileen; Hann, Michael

doi:10.1016/j.brainresbull.2016.04.013

Cited by 47 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Thus, it is not surprising that our observed percentage of patients with a history of SC use was higher than that in the general population. Several previous studies have reported that the prevalence of cannabis and SC use is higher among psychotic patients than among non-psychotic patients [45,47,48,53,54], and these results were supported by the results of this study.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…Instead, we compared the observed prevalence rates of SC use with the estimated prevalence rates of SC use in previous studies. The studies in question estimated that the prevalence of SC use was 1% in the general population, 2-10% among students and 10% among groups with high rates of drug use (e.g., nightclubbers) [45,47,48,53,54]. Compared with these estimated rates, the prevalence of SC use in the present sample seems very high.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 51%

“…Given the scarcity of studies on the symptomatology of SC-induced psychosis and the effects of SCs and NC on psychosis, we examined the symptoms experienced by SC and NC users. Previous studies have shown that the rate of NC use is higher among psychotic patients than among the general population [31] and that psychosis-prone individuals seem to experience greater numbers of drug-related psychotic reactions than those who are not prone to psychosis [11,18,20,44,45,46]. Thus, we were particularly interested in assessing the relative risks of SC- and NC-related psychosis in psychotic and non-psychotic patients.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Synthetic Cannabinoid Use in a Psychiatric Patient Population: A Pilot Study

Welter¹,

Lücke

Lam³

et al. 2017

Eur Addict Res

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Background: Consumption of natural cannabis (NC) and synthetic cannabinoids (SCs) has been associated with psychotic disorders. We compared the prevalence of use, consumer profiles, and psychosis-inducing potential of NC and SCs in a specific high-risk population. Methods: This prospective pilot study included 332 patients (18-64 years, mean 36.83, SD 13.33). Patients' sociodemographics and medical histories as well as illicit substance use and psychiatric symptom histories were collected using a drug consumption survey that assessed the use of new psychoactive substances and the Psychotic Symptoms Interview. Results: In total, 7.2% of all patients, 10.6% of psychotic patients, and 4.5% of nonpsychotic patients reported SC consumption. Compared with SCs, NC was consumed much more frequently by its users (mean 222.73, SD 498.27). NC and SC use induced persistent psychosis. Psychotic symptoms were first experienced by patients with a history of NC or SC use during intoxication and persisted after cessation (>1 year) of drug use. Positive and negative symptoms tended to be more severe in SC and NC users, respectively. Conclusions: NC and SCs may cause different symptom clusters. These relationships should be further evaluated.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 51%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Synthetic Cannabinoid Use in a Psychiatric Patient Population: A Pilot Study

Welter¹,

Lücke

Lam³

et al. 2017

Eur Addict Res

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show abstract

“…The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2015 stated that SCs are the most common new compounds detected globally, representing 39% of all new psychoactive substances [8]. These reports have shown that the lifetime prevalence of SCs' use in the general population is ~0.2-4% [9]. These reports have shown that the lifetime prevalence of SCs' use in the general population is ~0.2-4% [9].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Delayed, persistent, serotonin syndrome and ileus with multiple organ failure after 'Spice' ingestion

Khpal

Manning

2016

Anaesthesia Cases

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Summary Synthetic Cannabinoids (SCs) are primarily used for their psychedelic effects, however little is known about their immediate or long‐term physiological and psychosocial consequences. Case reports have suggested that the physical effects of SCs are short lived, whereas the psychological aspects may persist. We present a case of serotonin syndrome and severe ileus that occurred three weeks following 'Spice' ingestion and persisted for a further three weeks. This is the first case report of this unusual presentation.

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“…The importance of this type of drugs is well described by different works reporting that these new substances with cannabis-like effects are more and more frequently observed in the drug scene [6][7][8][9]. A fast and cheap detection of drugs of abuse can be carried out with immunochemical methods but, regrettably, those methods are unsuitable for a systematic toxicological analysis requested by these new molecules that continuously appear on the illicit market [10,11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Selective solid phase extraction of JWH synthetic cannabinoids by using computationally designed peptides

Mascini

Montesano

Pérez

et al. 2017

Talanta

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A B S T R A C TThe objective of the present work is to demonstrate a rational way to prepare selective sorbents able to extract simultaneously several structural analogs. For this purpose the binding specificity of two hexapeptides computationally designed (VYWLVW and YYIGGF) versus four synthetic cannabinoids Naphthalen-1-yl-(1-pentylindol-3-yl)methanone (JWH 018), naphthalen-1-yl-(1-butylindol-3-yl)methanone (JWH 073), (R)-(1-((1-methylpiperidin-2-yl)methyl)-1H-indol-3-yl)(naphthalen-1-yl)methanone (AM 1220) and (R)-(+)-[2,3-Dihydro-5-methyl-3-(4-morpholinylmethyl)pyrrolo[1,2,3-de]-1,4-benzoxazin-6-yl]-1-napthalenylmethanone (WIN 55) was computationally studied and then experimentally tested by solid-phase extraction (SPE) clean-up and ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) analysis. The two peptides were chosen using a semi combinatorial virtual technique by generating 4 cycles of peptide libraries (around 2.3×10 4 elements). To select the two peptides, the simulated binding scores between synthetic cannabinoids and peptides was used by maximizing the recognition properties of amino acid motif between the two JWH and the other synthetic cannabinoids. In particular, the peptide YYIGGF, having also affinity for AM 120, was selected as control because it was the only one without tryptophan residues within the best peptides obtained from simulation. Experimentally, the two hexapeptides were tested as SPE sorbent using nanomolar solutions of the four drugs. After optimization of best retentions the binding constants were calculated by loading synthetic cannabinoids solutions at different concentrations. The results indicated a strong interaction between hexapeptide VYWLVW and JWH 018 (15.58 ± 2.03×10 6 M -1 ), 3-fold and 40-fold larger compared to the analog JWH 073 and both AM 1220 and the WIN 55. Similar trend was observed for the hexapeptide YYIGGF but the binding constants were at least three times lower highlighting the key role of the tryptophan. To demonstrate the hexapeptides specific interaction with only synthetic cannabinoids, a cross-reactivity study was carried out using other drugs (cocaine, morphine, phencyclidine and methamphetamine) in the same SPE condition. Finally the practical utility of these peptide modified sorbent materials was further demonstrated by detecting the synthetic cannabinoids in real samples using hair matrix.

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International trends in spice use: Prevalence, motivation for use, relationship to other substances, and perception of use and safety for synthetic cannabinoids

Cited by 47 publications

References 32 publications

Synthetic Cannabinoid Use in a Psychiatric Patient Population: A Pilot Study

Synthetic Cannabinoid Use in a Psychiatric Patient Population: A Pilot Study

Delayed, persistent, serotonin syndrome and ileus with multiple organ failure after 'Spice' ingestion

Selective solid phase extraction of JWH synthetic cannabinoids by using computationally designed peptides

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