Why synthetic marijuana maneuvers consumers' attitude

Users of increasingly popular
street drugs called K2 or
spice, which are made from
mixtures of herbs laced with
synthetic cannabinoids and other
chemicals, are showing some
incredibly strange behaviors.
Indeed, as the use of these
so-called synthetic-marijuana
drugs escalate among U.S. teens and young adults — who
typically smoke or vape the drugs — TV and
newspaper accounts report that users are passing out on
sidewalks, stumbling out into traffic, and "looking and acting
like zombies."
People on synthetic cannabinoid products can act anywhere from
a bit confused to completely out of their minds, depending on
the dose of K2 used and an individual's susceptibility to the
drug, said Dr. Anthony Scalzo, a professor of pediatrics and
chief of toxicology at Saint Louis University.
"This is extremely dangerous stuff, and it's getting more
dangerous" as manufacturers continually find new ways to
tweak the chemicals in the drug to skirt laws that made some
compounds used in K2 illegal since March 2011, Scalzo said.
He first discovered the health dangers of K2 in 2010, after
noticing a spike in calls to the Missouri Poison Center about
young people who had smoked K2. He said these users
thought the drug's effects would be similar to those of
marijuana, but they instead experienced stronger symptoms,
including hallucinations , extreme agitation, a rapid heartbeat and
extremely high blood pressure.
Other changes in mood, thinking and perception have been
linked with synthetic cannabinoids. Their use has been
associated with paranoia, which is an unreasonable distrust of
others; anxiety; panic attacks; and psychotic episodes. Together,
these mind-altering behaviors have been labeled as the "zombie
effect," according to K2/Zombie DC, a public-education
campaign based in Washington, D.C., that uses zombie-
themed messages to raise awareness among teens and parents
of these drugs' dangers.
"Synthetic cannabinoids have chemicals in them that were never
meant to be inside the human body," Scalzo told Live science
Some versions of the drugs are illegal and are sold on the
street, but the versions that are legal are sold in stores ,
where their glitzy packages marketed to young people may
make them look mainstream, natural and safe, Scalzo noted.
But the herbal blends, which may resemble potpourri, "can
make people do what they normally would not do either to
themselves or to others," Scalzo said.
Unpredictable effects
In 2011, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)
placed five compounds that are commonly found in K2 on its
list of illegal substances, to help clamp down on sales. But
manufacturers responded by tinkering with the chemicals to
sidestep the regulations.
This led to the creation of newer versions of K2 that are even
more harmful than early versions, Scalzo said. The newest
products on the street can cause low blood pressure and a slow
heart rate, and may even result in coma, seizures and kidney
damage, he said.
And because the compounds in the drugs can constantly change,
their effects on users can be unpredictable and, in some cases,
deadly.
Exactly how the compounds in K2/spice work to produce their
effects is unclear, Scalzo said. They may act directly on the
specific receptors in the brain that can bind these chemicals, and
they may change how the brain works in the short term and,
potentially, the long term, Scalzo explained.
For example, Scalzo said, when synthetic cannabinoids attach
to receptors in the brain and then interact with dopamine — a
brain chemical that affects movement — it may cause users'
arms and legs to feel stiff or locked up. But when the drugs
interact with serotonin — a brain chemical responsible for sleep
and dreams — it may cause users to feel zombie-like and out
of it, he said.
Catastrophic psychosis reactions
Experts don't fully understand what's happening in the brain
to cause these bizarre behaviors, agreed Dr. Deepak D'Souza,
a professor of psychiatry at Yale University School of
Medicine who has studied the effects of cannabinoids and its
links with psychosis for the past 20 years. One possibility is
that the drugs lack a compound found in marijuana that may
act as a brake, preventing bizarre behaviors.
Regular marijuana contains the cannabinoid THC
(tetrahydrocannabinol) , which can attach to receptors in the
brain to activate the release of chemical messengers that can
make people feel paranoid or anxious, he explained. But the
marijuana plant also produces another compound known as
cannabidiol, or CBD, which stops the brain from continuing to
release these chemical messengers, he said.
As a result, when people smoke pot, "CBD reduces the
negative effects of THC," D'Souza said. However, this is
not the case when people use K2 or spice, he said. Although
synthetic cannabinoids contain THC, they don't contain CBD,
so the release of chemical messengers in the brain goes
unchecked, thus creating more undesirable effects, D'Souza
speculated.
When young people hear the term "synthetic marijuana" or
"fake weed" to describe synthetic cannabinoid products, it gives
them the false impression that spice or K2 will have effects
similar to those of marijuana.
"But there is a massive difference between spice and
marijuana ," D'Souza said. The compounds found in spice can
be anywhere between 10 and 200 times more potent than
THC, the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, and they
can produce more robust effects, he said.
And although the use of regular marijuana has been linked
with psychosis, or a loss of touch with reality, users of
synthetic cannabinoids may have more severe psychosis reactions
that involve more out-of-control behaviors than users of
marijuana do, D'Souza said.
CONSTANTLY MOVING TATGETS:
Moreover, researchers aren't sure what happens after the
compounds in spice activate the brain's cannabinoid receptors to
cause users of the drug to lose control of their thoughts and
actions, D'Souza. This may be related to differences between
synthetic and plant-based cannabinoids, or to other components
of spice, he said.
But a major challenge in understanding the effects of spice on
the brain is that "the chemical composition of the drug is a
constantly moving target, " D'Souza said. Unlike marijuana,
whose basic makeup is generally similar no matter where the
plant is grown, the compounds in a batch of spice can be very
different from one day to the next, even if you buy the drug
from the same place, he said.
"Users of spice or K2 don't really know what chemicals they
are getting," D'Souza said.
The name is slapped on a range of products that mostly
contain at least some synthetic cannabinoids or combinations of
them; the products are also sometimes spiked with other
drugs, such as amphetamines or the tranquilizer benzodiazepine,
D'Souza said.
In addition to the tremendous variability in the type and
amount of compounds from batch to batch and product to
product, spice users may not be familiar with the amount of
the drug needed to get high, D'Souza. This may cause people
to use too much of this potent drug, which can also provoke
altered behavior, he said.
Credit:live science.