Spice (drug)

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Spice

Spice is the sales name for a drug that consists of synthetic cannabinoids and various dried parts of plants. Spice is used in particular as a substitute for cannabis products . According to the manufacturer (the London company Psyche Deli ), the intoxicating effect is based on the combination of certain natural ingredients. In various analyzes, however, several synthetic cannabinoid-mimetic active ingredients ( cannabicyclohexanol , JWH-018 and similar substances) could be detected. Several deaths have been reported in recent years that are suspected to be related to spice consumption.

Prohibition proceedings have been initiated in various countries since December 2008, including Austria and Germany since January 2009, banning the trade in spice.

ingredients

According to the manufacturer, Spice consists of a large number of different, sometimes quite exotic herbs, which are sometimes said to have psychoactive effects. In fact, no agreement with the specified plants was found during sampling.

According to the BKA , the main active ingredient responsible for the intoxication is the C8 analog of the cannabinoid CP-47,497 , which was later named cannabicyclohexanol . It also contains the synthetic cannabinoid-mimetic agent JWH-018 developed by John W. Huffman at Clemson University . These substances bind to cannabinoid receptors in the brain and trigger a state of intoxication. Its pharmacological potency is significantly higher than that of THC . JWH-018 has a different structure than tetrahydrocannabinol, so that common drug tests for the detection of intoxication with cannabinoids give a negative result. The purity of the ingredients in the end product Spice is unclear, as is the exact effect and conversion of the synthetic additives in the metabolism of the human body.

It also contains flavorings, the actual composition of which is still little known.

Spice is offered in the varieties Silver , Gold , Diamond , Tropical Synergy , Arctic Synergy and Genie . According to the manufacturer, these differ in intensity, with Diamond being the strongest variety. As analyzes show, the different varieties differ not only in terms of carrier herb and flavoring, but also in terms of the active ingredients used, which are added in different concentrations and sometimes also in combination.

application

Spice is traded as an incense, but is mainly used for consumption in a smoked form. The packaging only warns against preparing or consuming the mixture as a tea.

Successor products

After the ban, similar products will be offered under the names Lava red and Bonzai Winterboost . In January 2011, several house searches and seizures took place at dealers of these products.

The herbal mixture sold as Lava Red contains the synthetic cannabinoid JWH-122 , according to an analysis by the Lower Saxony State Criminal Police Office . It is a derivative of JWH-018 and is therefore not structurally related to THC, but also has a similar psychoactive effect.

Legal situation

Germany

The active ingredients CP-47,497 (and their homologues) and JWH-018 contained in Spice have been illegal since January 22nd, 2009 due to the twenty-second amendment to the Narcotics Act and are now more strictly controlled. With their entry in Annex II of the Narcotics Act (BtMG), they are classified as marketable but not prescription drugs . In addition, the active ingredients JWH-019 and JWH-073 were classified in Germany from January 22, 2010 by being entered in Annex II of the Narcotics Act (BtMG). Handling Spice without permission is therefore generally a criminal offense.

The criminal liability for the trade in herbal mix products depends on the active ingredients contained. If a herbal mixture contains a synthetic cannabinoid, which is already listed in the annexes of the BtMG, there is a criminal liability. According to a ruling by the European Court of Justice on July 10, 2014, the trade in substances that, as pure intoxicating drugs, do not fall under the term “medicinal product” but have not yet been explicitly prohibited (listed) is not punishable under the current legal situation.

On January 14, 2015, the German Federal Supreme Court ruled on the not insignificant amount of various synthetic cannabinoids . The limit of the not small amount was set at two grams for the cannabinoids JWH-018 and CP 47,497-C8 homologues. The active ingredients JWH-073 and CP 47,497 reach the limit value at six grams.

On November 26, 2016, the gap between AMG and BtMG was closed by the New Psychoactive Substances Act (NpSG). The peculiarity of this law is that it does not cover individual substances like the BtMG, but groups of substances. In 2016, it covers the substance groups of all synthetic cannabimimetics and 2-phenethylamine derivatives. The handling of these substances has been prohibited in Germany since then. Trade, import, transit, administration and manufacture for trade are all punishable.

Austria

Since the active ingredient JWH-018 is used to influence the condition, condition or functions of the body or mental states when used on or in the human body, Spice is subject to Section 1, Paragraph 1, Item 5 of the Medicines Act , which means that it is traded and distributed in Austria are forbidden. The Austrian Ministry of Health announced this in a broadcast on December 18, 2008. Until then, trading was not prohibited.

The ban was first issued for 14 days on December 18, 2008 and made permanent on January 7, 2009. The "placing on the market" of the substance was stopped, and the dealers were instructed to remove existing stocks from the range.

Switzerland

In Switzerland , Spice is subject to the provisions of the Tobacco Ordinance (ordinance of October 27, 2004 on tobacco products and smokers' products with tobacco substitutes (Tobacco Ordinance, TabV)) and is prohibited.

Luxembourg

Since the Grand Ducal Regulation of April 20, 2009 came into force on May 4, 2009, CP-47,497, JWH-018, HU-210 and any synthetic agonists of cannabinoid receptors have been regulated at national level. If the latter are present in products such as "SPICE", there is usually a prison sentence of up to 6 months and / or a fine of 250 to 2,500 EUR for unauthorized possession for personal consumption and a prison sentence of up to 5 years and / or a fine of EUR 500 to 1,250,000 for their unauthorized manufacture, extraction, etc. and possession for the purpose of sale, transfer or distribution, etc.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Horror drug "Spice": 19-year-old dies of synthetic marijuana . In: Berliner-Kurier.de . ( berliner-kurier.de [accessed on March 28, 2017]).
  2. ↑ After the death of a 23-year-old in Neustadt: Police warn of “legal highs” . ( otz.de [accessed on March 28, 2017]).
  3. ^ NDR: Concern after deaths from the fashion drug "Spice". Retrieved March 28, 2017 .
  4. ↑ a b Fully on the organic trip . Time online . November 27, 2008. Retrieved December 30, 2008.
  5. ↑ Christian Rätsch : Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants: Botany, Ethnopharmacology and Application, Aarau: AT Verlag 2001, 5th edition.
  6. ^ Opinion on Spice . Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety. December 18, 2008. Retrieved December 30, 2008.
  7. ↑ Main active ingredient of "Spice" identified. ( Memento from September 17, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Press release BKA, January 19, 2009 (accessed July 10, 2020)
  8. ^ Christian Steup: Investigation of the commercial product "Spice". (PDF; 607 kB) THC Pharm GmbH. Archived from the original on October 9, 2010. Retrieved December 30, 2008.
  9. ^ Narcotics: The fashion drug "Spice" is banned in January . World online . December 30, 2008. Accessed December 30, 2008.
  10. ↑ Spice & JWH-018 - Words of Warning . Pierre Markuse. December 18, 2008. Retrieved January 14, 2009.
  11. ↑ Volker Auwärter, Sebastian Dresen, Wolfgang Weinmann, Michael Müller, Michael Pütz, Nerea Ferreirós: 'Spice' and other herbal blends: harmless incense or cannabinoid designer drugs? . In: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. (Ed.): Journal of Mass Spectrometry . 2009. doi : 10.1002 / jms.1558 .
  12. ↑ Lava Red subjects online .
  13. ^ House searches at herbal mix dealers ( memento from January 26th 2011 in the Internet Archive ).
  14. ↑ Pharmaceutical newspaper: BKA: Serious damage from herbal drugs .
  15. ↑ a b 22nd BtMÄndV of January 19, 2009, Federal Law Gazette I p. 49
  16. ↑ Harald Hans Körner: Narcotics Act (Beckscher Kurzkommentar) . CH Beck, Munich 1994, ISBN 3-406-36924-3 , p. 42ff in connection with the introduction and coming rates to § 1BtMG.
  17. ↑ Narcotics. BfArM , accessed on October 27, 2010 .
  18. ↑ Trading in intoxicating herbal mixtures temporarily legal. Sueddeutsche.de, July 10, 2010.
  19. ↑ BGH, judgment of January 14, 2015 - 1 StR 302/13
  20. ↑ Juris.de: Legal Highs - limit values ​​for synthetic cannabinoids set, accessed on January 24, 2015.
  21. ↑ Federal Law Gazette 2016 Part I No. 55, issued in Bonn on November 25th .
  22. ↑ Herbal mixture "Spice" is banned . ORF .at. December 18, 2008. Retrieved December 30, 2008.
  23. ↑ Herbal mixture "Spice": Ministry of Health stops trade . derStandard.at . December 18, 2008. Retrieved December 30, 2008.
  24. ↑ Spice ban: It depends on the active ingredient . derStandard.at . January 11, 2009. Accessed July 10, 2020.
  25. ↑ Sven Siebenand: fashion drug Spice: The legal marijuana . Pharmaceutical newspaper online . Retrieved July 10, 2020.