Study regarding the toxicological activity of some JWH synthetic cannabinoids

Abstract

In the last years, the synthetic cannabinoids have become popular recreational drugs of abuse because of their psychoactive properties. It is known that some JWH synthetic cannabinoids are even more toxic than their natural counterpart, i.e. cannabis (tetrahydrocannabinol, THC). For this reason, their acute toxic effects may even lead to death under certain circumstances. The aim of the research presented in this paper was to compute different toxicity measures for some of the newest JWH synthetic cannabinoids, by using dedicated software packages. The same toxicity measures have also been determined for THC, which was chosen as standard compound. For this purpose, the geometries of the molecules have been optimized by using the AM1 semi-empirical quantum method. The results of a comparative analysis of toxicities of synthetic and natural cannabinoids are presented.