Synthetic Cathinones and Cannabinoids Are New Psychoactive Substances (Review)

New psychoactive substances, or designer drugs, are currently a large group of substances, primarily of synthetic origin, which are designed and come on a shadow market in circumvention of the current law. The popularity of these substances among young people is due to the off-the-shelf availability, low cost, and expected safety compared to traditional drugs. As practice shows, a resulting intoxication is life-threatening.

Currently, the ordered data on these substances classes, as well as clinical manifestations of poisoning related to their consumption is practically non-existent due to certain difficulties in their diagnosis. The review considers the main groups of new psychoactive substances (synthetic cathinones and cannabinoids, derivatives of piperazine, aminoindans) circulating in a shadow market. We have distinguished the basic mechanisms of their effect on human body and described the main manifestations of their consumption.

When writing the review we used the data of specialized poison control medical centers, as well as the information obtained from users.

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Larchenko А.V., Suvorov M.А., Andryukhin V.I., Kaurov Ya.V., Suvorov А.V. Synthetic Cathinones and Cannabinoids Are New Psychoactive Substances (Review). Sovremennye tehnologii v medicine 2017; 9(1): 185, https://doi.org/10.17691/stm2017.9.1.23