Prevalence of Synthetic Cannabinoids in U.S. Athletes: Initial Findings

Abstract

A number of synthetic cannabinoids such as JWH-018 and JWH-073 have been incorporated into "spice" products. Despite having labels warning against human consumption, the products are smoked for their cannabinoid-like effects and the extent of their use by athletes has not been adequately described. Urine samples collected from 5,956 athletes were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry for the presence of JWH-018, JWH-073, and their metabolites. Metabolites of JWH-018 and/or JWH-073 were detected in 4.5% of the samples. Metabolites of JWH-018 and JWH-073, only JWH-018, and only JWH-073 were detected in 50%, 49%, and approximately 1% of positive samples, respectively. In total, JWH-018 metabolites were detected in 99% (50% + 49%) and JWH-073 metabolites were detected in approximately 50% (49% + 1%) of the positive samples. Parent JWH-018, JWH-018-2-OH-indole, and JWH-018-4-OH-indole were not detected in any of the samples. All samples in which JWH-073 metabolites were detected contained JWH-073-N-butanoic acid. Parent JWH-073 and its N-(4-OH-butyl), 4-OH-indole, 5-OH-indole, and 7-OH-indole metabolites were not detected. Given the number of synthetic cannabinoids that have been synthesized, their limited regulation, and the prevalence of JWH-018 and JWH-073 metabolites detected in the athletes, these compounds should remain a priority for anti-doping programs.

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

“…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.…”

“…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.…”

“Legal Highs” – An Emerging Epidemic of Novel Psychoactive Substances

“…In this age group, ever SC use was first reported to be around 10% (e.g., Barratt et al, 2013;Forrester, Kleinschmidt, Schwarz, & Young, 2012;Gunderson, Haughey, AitDaoud, Joshi, & Hart, 2014;Hu, Primack, Barnett, & Cook, 2011;Vandrey et al, 2012), but the recently published results of a self-reported study, including almost 15,000 participants from different countries, revealed lifetime use to be more prevalent: 16.8% (Winstock & Barratt, 2013). Accumulating evidence demonstrates the increasing popularity of SCs amongst soldiers (Bebarta, Ramirez, & Varney, 2012;Loeffler, Hurst, Penn, & Yung, 2012) and athletes (Heltsley et al, 2012;M€ oller et al, 2011).…”

Bioanalytical methods for the determination of synthetic cannabinoids and metabolites in biological specimens

“…Extraction of SCs using SPE has been used in blood and serum [91], urine [92][93][94][95][96] and oral fluid [45,97,98]. Different types of SPE columns can be used depending on the cost, availability and the nature of the analytes of interest.…”