J Forensic Sci Toxicol | Volume 3, Issue 1 | Case Study | Open Access
Mahasen Alqallaf*
Department of Criminal Evidence, Forensic Toxicology Laboratory, Ministry of Interior, Kuwait
*Correspondance to: Mahasen Alqallaf
Fulltext PDFOne of the most common New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) abuse in worldwide is the Synthetic Cannabinoids (SCs) which is seems to be a global problem. These compounds were originally developed to study the structure and function of cannabinoid receptors, but in recent years, they have emerged as drugs of abuse. Synthetic cannabinoids, most commonly known as Spice or K2, which is a mixture of herbs and spices that are sprayed with a chemical with similarities to THC, the mind altering ingredient found in marijuana. Chemical analysis shows that the active ingredients in these drugs are synthetic chemicals with dangerous toxic effects. Beyond that, because the chemical composition of these products are unknown, users have no idea what chemicals they are putting into their bodies or what the effects will be, where herbs can be sprayed unevenly, and the potency can vary wildly. Synthetic cannabinoids can be toxic. As a result, drug abusers who smoke these products their bodies can be affected seriously, different symptoms can be occurred and varied according to amount and kind of drugs consumed, such as: Rapid heart rate, vomiting, agitation, confusion, and hallucinations. Some have to get help from emergency medical services or in hospital emergency departments or intensive care units. The aim of this study is to look after different kinds of synthetic cannabinoids in Kuwait, and to analyze and identify these compounds which is spread so quickly between drugs abusers, by using high performance Liquid Chromatography (LC/MS/MS) technique for both blood and urine samples. In the year 2015, the drug control department in Kuwait notice that there is new drug addiction between the young adults and started seeing people coming into emergency rooms saying they smoked marijuana, in fact it is not marijuana it is the new drugs called synthetic cannabinoids and the common street name in the Arabian Gulf area is “Chemical”, due to the chemical sprayed to herb that is give more powerful effect than natural THC. During this time the new drugs has no regulation until September 2016 where all addiction and trading of these compounds and its derivatives become illegal. Since that time, forensic toxicology laboratory in ministry of interior in Kuwait is keep looking after all techniques and analysis that is used to detect and identify these synthetic cannabinoids, especially in biological samples with a screening and confirmation test. The majority of synthetic cannabinoids founds in biological samples (urine, and blood) were members of indazole-3-carboxamide family. Members from indazole-3-carboxamide family identified in Kuwait were 5F-ADB, FUB-AMB, AB-FUBINACA, AB-CHMINACA, MDMBFUBINACA, 5F-AB-PINACA, AB-PINACA, and 5F-AKB48 which is also known as 5F-APINACA. The most common synthetic cannabinoids were 5F-ADB, FUB-AMB, AB-FUBINACA and ABCHIMINACA; various mixes of two, three, types of synthetic cannabinoids were identified. The addictions of these compounds are responsible for hundreds of deaths every year. It affects not only individual users, but also their families and communities. Thus, it’s important in gulf region to have this kind of studies related to new designer drugs. In this work, three postmortem cases were analyzed and identified first by screening immunoassay test followed by confirmation by LC/MS/MS techniques, where a synthetic cannabinoids were confirmed. Combination of two or three kinds of these drugs with other narcotics such as: (opium, benzodiazepines, methamphetamine, and others) could be fatal.
Synthetic cannabinoids; Postmortem; 5F-ADB; Immunoassay; Randox; SPE; LC/MS/ MS; Q-Exactive Focus Orbitrap
Alqallaf M. Carboxamide Synthetic Cannabinoids: As a Significant Causes of Related Death in Kuwait (Case Studies). J Forensic Sci Toxicol. 2020; 3(1): 1013.