Archives of Toxicology | 2021
Commemorating 85 years of publications on Cannabis by Archives of Toxicology
Abstract
Eighty-five years ago, the first report on a human Cannabis indica intoxication appeared in this journal (Baker-Bates and Epple 1936). At that time, Archives of Toxicology was named “Fühner-Wielands Sammlung von Vergiftungsfällen” and was specifically devoted to the documentation of human intoxications by both natural and man-made agents. The case of intoxication that was reported had occurred in 1933 in Liverpool, having received previous notes in the Liverpool Echo (Fleming 1935), the Police Journal (Anonymous 1934) and the Lancet (Baker-Bates 1935); the circumstances of the case had made a popular appeal (Fleming 1935). The historical and very unusual report shall be quoted verbatim: “A young man having read about Indian hemp in the Chemistry of Common Life by JFW Johnston (1855), which describes it as “increaser of pleasure, the exciter of desire, the cementer of friendship, the laughter-mover and the causer of reeling gait”, separated the hemp seeds from the parrot food and planted them in his garden during June. In September, when the plants were about four or five feet high and flowering, he plucked the leaves and tops, dried and chopped them and made them into cigarettes; these he smoked on several occasions and experienced mild symptoms of cannabis intoxication—e.g., loss of sense of time and space, vivid dreams or hallucinations and subsequent drowsiness. Incredulous about his experiences, his fiancée, aged 22, smoked—and to some extent inhaled—about twothirds of a cigarette, made from the top of a fruiting plant (Baker-Bates 1935; Baker-Bates and Epple 1936).” The subjective and objective medical symptoms experienced by this young woman were described in detail. Finally, “The hot summer of 1933 may have been the reason why the seeds grew so well in England. There is a possibility that if the fact that hemp seeds could be grown with ease in England were widely known, hemp-smoking might become a national menace” (Baker-Bates 1935). When this prophecy had become true, the abuse of marihuana triggered scientific activities on chemical analysis and biomonitoring (Seifert and Geldmacher 1955; Machata 1969; Hackel 1972; Reiß 1972). Later, synthetic cannabinoids were consumed as a surrogate of marihuana owing to their non-detectability with commonly used biomonitoring testing methods and to their strong cannabimimetic effects. Various toxic effects of such compounds were described (Koller et al 2013; Bileck et al 2016; Russo et al 2019; Tomiyama and Funada 2021). The first synthetic cannabinoids were developed in the second half of the twentieth century to study human endocannabinoid receptor systems. However, today, synthetic cannabinoids represent the largest and most structurally diverse class of designer drugs, and some of these compounds are similar to phytoand endocannabinoids. Synthetic cannabinoids are often referred to as ‘‘Spice,’’ based on the first branded synthetic cannabinoid product. They are commonly applied to dried herbs that mimic cannabis (Luethi and Liechti 2020). Meyer (2016) pointed out that synthetic cannabinoids with a high affinity and intrinsic activity at cannabinoid CB1 receptors exert stronger physiological and psychological effects than tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which may be in line with their high potential to trigger psychotic-like symptoms. From a clinical point of view, intake of synthetic cannabinoids should, therefore, be considered in patients known to abuse drugs and presenting psychiatric symptoms. The endocannabinoid system is involved in various physiological functions, including cognition, behaviour, memory, motor control, pain sensation, appetite, cardiovascular parameters, gastrointestinal motility, and immunoregulation. The term ‘‘cannabinoid’’ refers to a class of compounds that are produced by Cannabis sativa and Cannabis indica, and endogenous and exogenous ligands that interact with G * Hermann M. Bolt [email protected]