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New Synthetic Cannabinoids Metabolism And Strategies To Best Identify Optimal Marker Metabolites., Xingxing Diao, Marilyn A. Huestis

Institute of Emerging Health Professions Faculty Papers

Synthetic cannabinoids (SCs) were initially developed as pharmacological tools to probe the endocannabinoid system and as novel pharmacotherapies, but are now highly abused. This is a serious public health and social problem throughout the world and it is highly challenging to identify which SC was consumed by the drug abusers, a necessary step to tie adverse health effects to the new drug's toxicity. Two intrinsic properties complicate SC identification, their often rapid and extensive metabolism, and their generally high potency relative to the natural psychoactive Δ ⁹ -tetrahydrocannabinol in cannabis. Additional challenges are the lack of reference standards for the …