Pharmacology and adverse effects of new psychoactive substances: synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists

Over the last decade, new psychoactive substances (NPS) have continuously been the focus of the international society since their emergence on the illicit drug market. NPS can be classified into six groups including; synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists (SCRAs), stimulants, opioids, dissociatives, sedatives/hypnotics, and classic hallucinogens with psychoactive effects. These are sold as “herbal incense,” “bath salts,” “legal highs,” and “research chemicals”. They can be synthesized easily with slight changes in the chemical moieties of known psychoactive substances. NPS are sold worldwide via on- and off-line markets without proper scientific evaluation regarding their safety or harmfulness. Abuse of NPS poses a serious public health issue, and systematic studies on their adverse effects are lacking. Therefore, it would be meaningful to collect currently available data in order to understand NPS and to establish viable solutions to cope with the various health issues related to them. In this article, we reviewed the general pharmacological characteristics, recent findings, and adverse effects of representative NPS; SCRAs. SCRAs are known as the most commonly abused NPS. Most SCRAs, cannabinoid receptor 1 and cannabinoid receptor 2 agonists, are often associated with severe toxicities, including cardiotoxicity, immunotoxicity, and even death, unlike natural cannabinoid Δ9-Tetrahydrocannabinol.