In vitro activation of the CB receptor by the semi-synthetic cannabinoids hexahydrocannabinol (HHC), hexahydrocannabinol acetate (HHC-O) and hexahydrocannabiphorol (HHC-P).

Semi-synthetic cannabinoids (SSCs) including hexahydrocannabinol (HHC) are emerging on the drug market and sold openly as purportedly legal replacements for cannabis and Δ-THC. By the beginning of 2024, 24 European countries had identified HHC, often sold openly in edibles (foods/candy), vapes and low-THC cannabis flowers and resins. The SSC market is developing rapidly, with HHC acetate (HHC-O), hexahydrocannabiphorol (HHC-P) and others recently identified.

DARK Classics in Chemical Neuroscience: Etonitazene and Related Benzimidazoles.

Etonitazene and related 2-benzylbenzimidazoles are potent analgetics invented in the research laboratories of the Swiss pharmaceutical giant CIBA in the late 1950s. Though the unprecedented structure distinguishes this class of compounds from poppy-derived and other synthetic analgetics, a range of studies indicate that these drugs are selective μ opioid receptor agonists possessing morphine-like pharmacotoxicological properties in animals as well as humans. Several unscheduled members of this synthetically readily accessible class of opioids that are not controlled under the international and national drug control systems have recently emerged on the illicit drug market.

Eutylone and Its Structural Isomers Interact with Monoamine Transporters and Induce Locomotor Stimulation.

Synthetic cathinones are a class of new psychoactive substances that induce psychostimulant effects and pose risk for hospitalizations, overdose, and death. At the present time, derivatives of the synthetic cathinone, methylone, are being confiscated in nonmedical (i.e.

Responding to New Psychoactive Substances in the European Union: Early Warning, Risk Assessment, and Control Measures.

New psychoactive substances (NPS) are drugs that are not controlled by the United Nations international drug control conventions of 1961 and 1971 but that may pose similar threats to public health. Many of them are traded as "legal" replacements to controlled drugs such as cannabis, heroin, benzodiazepines, cocaine, amphetamines, and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA). Driven by globalization, there has been a large increase in the availability and, subsequently, harms caused by these substances over the last decade in Europe.

Assessing the toxicological significance of new psychoactive substances in fatalities.

The number of new psychoactive substances (NPS) has increased significantly, especially within the last 5 years. The EMCDDA conducts risks assessments of such substances, especially in relation to serious adverse events. Examination of the individual health risks of a substance is a fundamental requirement of the process.

Identification and characterization by LC-UV-MS/MS of melanotan II skin-tanning products sold illegally on the Internet.

New methods were developed and validated to determine the identity, contents, and purity of samples of melanotan II, a synthetic melanocortin receptor agonist, sold in vials as injectable skin-tanning products that were purchased from three online shops. Methods were based on liquid chromatography with ultra-violet detection (LC-UV) at wavelength 218 nm, and tandem mass spectrometric detection (MS/MS) after collision-induced fragmentation of the double charged [M+2H](2+) precursor ion (m/z 513). Identification of melanotan II was verified by correct chromatographic retention time, and relative abundance ratios of five qualifying fragment ions.

Prevalence of, and risk factors for, HIV, hepatitis B and C infections among men who inject image and performance enhancing drugs: a cross-sectional study.

Objective: To describe drug use, sexual risks and the prevalence of blood-borne viral infections among men who inject image and performance enhancing drugs (IPEDs).

Design: A voluntary unlinked-anonymous cross-sectional biobehavioural survey.

Setting: 19 needle and syringe programmes across England and Wales.

Human enhancement drugs and the pursuit of perfection.

The emerging threat to public health posed by the use of human enhancement drugs has remained largely unrecognised. In attempts to become stronger, happier or smarter, or to look thinner, younger or more beautiful, people are turning to a diverse range of pharmaceuticals. The widespread availability of drugs with the potential to improve human attributes, appearance and abilities has generated a new and growing audience of users.

Elephant in the room? The methodological implications for public health research of performance-enhancing drugs derived from the illicit market.

'All scientific work is incomplete-whether it be observational or experimental. All scientific work is liable to be upset or modified by advancing knowledge. That does not confer upon us a freedom to ignore the knowledge we already have, or to postpone the action that it appears to demand at a given time.