Δ-Tetrahydrocannabinol-like discriminative stimulus effects of five novel synthetic cannabinoids in rats.

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES

Novel synthetic cannabinoid compounds continue to appear in the market advertised as legal alternatives to marijuana and the older synthetic cannabinoid compounds which are now controlled substances. Most of these newer compounds have been found to act at CB1 receptors, so the purpose of this study was to study the abuse liability of these compounds.

METHODS

Five of these compounds (BB-22, FUB-PB-22, 5F-AMB, NM2201, and MAB-CHMINACA) were tested for their ability to produce discriminative stimulus effects similar to Δ-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ-THC) in rats. The ability of the CB1 receptor inverse agonist rimonabant to antagonize the discriminative stimulus effects of the five test compounds was also tested.

RESULTS

All five of the test compounds fully substituted for the discriminative stimulus effects of Δ-THC at some dose, although MAB-CHMINACA produced an inverted U-shaped dose effect. Rimonabant fully antagonized the Δ-THC-like discriminative stimulus effects of BB-22, 5F-AMB, NM2201, and MAB-CHMINACA but only reduced the effects of FUB-PB-22 to 40-50 % of Δ-THC-appropriate responding.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings suggest that all five of the test compounds produced Δ-THC-like effects and will likely have abuse liability similar to that of the controlled cannabinoid compounds.