New Synthetic Hallucinogens

A novel class of synthetic hallucinogens that is being sold as a cheaper, more readily available LSD substitute, or even as LSD itself, is emerging as a particularly deadly drug, especially for young males, new research shows.  A recent paper was published discussing the advent of this new class of drug.  See:   American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry (AAAP) 25th Annual Meeting and Symposium: Abstract 54, presented December 6, 2014.

This paper shows that a systematic review of published reports about use in humans of 251-NBOMe, or simply NBOMe, showed that doses as small as 50 µg can produce powerful effects ― and ingestion was associated with a variety of serious adverse events, from severe agitation and delirium that can last for days to seizures and even death.  In fact, several deaths have already been reported.  In fact, the drug is far more toxic and dangerous than prior hallucinogens like LSD.

Drug-related adverse events included severe agitation and aggression, delirium, tachycardia and hypertension, pyrexia, respiratory and metabolic acidosis, impaired renal function, elevation of creatine kinase levels, and elevated transaminase levels. A total of 40% of the patients presented with seizures; there was one case of status epilepticus.  This differs dramatically from the side effect profile of LSD which wore off with time and only required sedation in some cases.  These new drugs require ICU admission, and treatment of severe status epilepticus.

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