Synthetic Cannabinoids (K2/Spice)
Synthetic cannabinoids (commonly known as K2/spice) are designer drugs. This class of drugs mimics the pharmacological effects of marijuana while avoiding classification as illegal and detection in standard marijuana drug tests due to the slight modifications made in the chemical structure.
The structure of many synthetic cannabinoids can be categorized into four components: tail, core, linker, and linked group. By modifying the chemical structure of these components, suppliers can easily produce compounds that mimic the effect of THC. This creates a large chemical diversity in the number of synthetic cannabinoids making it particularly difficult to detect and monitor. Legal control of one synthetic cannabinoid prompts the supplier to create replacement substances, thus adding to the difficulty in monitoring this substance.
Synthetic cannabinoids are often marketed as safe/legal alternatives to marijuana. However, due to the lack of regulation in the production and testing of these compounds, their actual effects can be unpredictable and even lead to life-threatening scenarios.
Healstone's Mission in Detecting Synthetic Cannabinoids
Here at Healstone, we have been closely monitoring and developing novel methods to detect this dangerous class of drugs. We currently have a large repertoire of synthetic cannabinoids we are able to monitor that can be viewed by clicking here. We are also always developing new methods to keep up with the replacement substances suppliers may synthesize.
Depending on your need, we can conjugate the synthetic cannabinoids to different compounds for different assays. We are able to conjugate to many different carrier proteins (BTG/BGG/BSA/HRP) for lateral flow immunoassays or luminescence/fluorescence assays.