Recreational use of synthetic cannabinoids: prevalence, intoxication, side effects, addictive potential

Abstract

With the emergence of novel psychoactive substances in the illegal drug market, synthetic cannabinoids (SCs) became one of the first in this class. SCs are mainly distributed through the Internet, by online messengers and VPN networks. The toxic effect of SCs on the human body is quite powerful and often results in death. The addictive potential of SCs is rather high and needs further study, especially with the emergence of new SC classes. Development of differential diagnostic criteria and therapeutic approaches in the treatment of acute psychotic conditions caused by the use of SCs is an urgent task for practical health care.
Objective: to review scientific data on consequences of the recreational use of SCs in humans.
Materials: data from six representative databases, PubMed, Google Scholar, Embase, Cochrane, the SciFinder platform, and Scopus, were used for this review.
Methods: the following combinations and keywords were used as search queries: Spice, K2, synthetic cannabis, novel psychoactive substances (NPS), adverse effects, cannabinoid’s receptor, psychosis due to the use of NPS, fatalities. Peer-reviewed articles were filtered by abstracts to determine their relevance for the present review.