Synthetic Cannabinoid Exposures Reported to Texas Poison Centers

Abstract

Synthetic cannabinoid abuse is increasing in the United States. Synthetic cannabinoid exposures reported to Texas poison centers in 2010 were identified, and the distribution of exposures by selected factors was determined. There were 464 total cases. The number of exposures increased each month during January-July, then remained relatively constant for the next 5 months. The patients were 73.9% male and 57.3% were 20 years or older. Moderate or major effects or potentially toxic outcome occurred in 59.9% of the exposures. The most frequently reported clinical effects were tachycardia (37.3%), agitation (18.5%), drowsiness (18.5%), vomiting (15.7%), hallucinations (10.8%), and nausea (9.9%).

Atypical Diabetic Ketoacidosis: Case Report

“…Clinical case reports regarding acute intoxication of synthetic cannabinoids describe a variety of somatic and neuropsychiatric effects like nausea and vomiting, tachycardia, hypertension, hypokalaemia, hyperglycaemia, convulsions, agitation, hallucination, and acute psychosis (8,9). Similarly, our patient had tachycardia, hyperglycaemia, hypertension and hypokalaemia.…”

Synthetic Cannabinoids (SCs) in Metaphors: a Metaphorical Analysis of User Experiences of Synthetic Cannabinoids in Two Countries

“…Users in our study were primarily young male adults, with reviews estimating that males appear more than twice as likely to use SCs (Castellanos et al 2011;Forrester et al 2011;Hu et al 2011;Vandrey et al 2012). We know that poly substance use is common among users of SCs (Castellanos et al 2011;Hu et al 2011;Vandrey et al 2012).…”

“…SCs in contrast to natural cannabis or phytocannabinoids (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol or THC) which are partial agonists are potent high efficacy cannabinoid receptor full agonists (Lindigkeit et al 2009;Vardakou et al 2010;Tuv et al 2012). Prevalence data reports on use of SCs in adolescents and young adults (primarily male) estimated to be around 10% (Hu et al 2011;Forrester et al 2011;Vandrey et al 2012), with global data suggesting lifetime use is higher (16.8%) Barratt 2013). 2014;Van Hout 2017).…”

“…Emergency hospital presentations are characterised by patients presenting with panic attacks, agitation, paranoid ideation, tachycardia, nausea, psychotic reactions and hallucinations post SC use (Sobolevsky et al 2010;Vearrier and Osterhoudt 2010;Forrester et al 2011;Castellanos et al 2011;Every-Palmer 2010, 2011Schneir et al 2011;Bebarta et al 2012;Spaderna et al 2013). Winstock et al (2015), in their study on patients seeking emergency medical treatment following SC use, with the relative risk of severity of side effects estimated to 30 times greater than natural cannabis.…”

A comprehensive computational analysis of cathinone and its metabolites using quantum mechanical approaches and docking studies

“…Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) National Forensic Laboratory Information System also received an increase in reports of seizures due to cathinone and its derivatives, receiving 14 reports in 2009 from 8 states to 290 reports from 21 states in 2010 [10]. The patterns of usage of these derivatives are being tracked on the state level by the National Institute of Drug Abuse Community Epidemiology Work Group [12]. Similarly, in the European Union, data from the Early Warning System have reported a steady increase in the number of police and forensic cases related to synthetic cathinones since 2009.…”