AI Article Synopsis
- * SCBs act on cannabinoid receptors, mimicking the effects of marijuana's main component, Δ-THC, but are often abused by young people and military personnel to avoid detection in drug tests.
- * Despite being marketed as safe alternatives to marijuana, K2/Spice products pose serious health risks due to their varied chemical structures and harmful effects, which are not fully understood yet.
Article Abstract
In the early 2000s in Europe and shortly thereafter in the USA, it was reported that 'legal' forms of marijuana were being sold under the name K2 and/or Spice. Active ingredients in K2/Spice products were determined to be synthetic cannabinoids (SCBs), producing psychotropic actions via CB cannabinoid receptors, similar to those of Δ-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ-THC), the primary active constituent in marijuana. Often abused by adolescents and military personnel to elude detection in drug tests due to their lack of structural similarity to Δ-THC, SCBs are falsely marketed as safe marijuana substitutes. Instead, SCBs are a highly structural diverse group of compounds, easily synthesized, which produce very dangerous adverse effects occurring by, as of yet, unknown mechanisms. Therefore, available evidence indicates that K2/Spice products are clearly not safe marijuana alternatives.
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Source |
|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5329767 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tips.2016.12.003 | DOI Listing |
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