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Is cannabis being doped with Viagra?

New Scientist

Thursday 30 Oct 2008

THAT illegal drugs are not always pure is no surprise, but is cannabis being laced with a Viagra-like compound?

Dries de Kaste and colleagues at the National Institute of Public Health and the Environment in Bilthoven, the Netherlands, analysed a liquid that police found being sold on the streets of Utrecht as a "marijuana adulterant".

They found compounds called homosildenafil (HS) and thiohomosildenafil (THS) in it, which belong to the same class of compounds as sildenafil, sold as Viagra. All three inhibit the breakdown of an enzyme that dilates blood vessels in the penis, increasing blood flow.

De Kaste does not know why HS and THS are being added to cannabis, but speculates that it could be to enhance the uptake of its psychoactive constituents, or to exploit a perception that marijuana use affects libido.

HS and THS were not destroyed when they were "smoked" using a laboratory simulator
(Forensic Science International, DOI: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2008.09.002). The health effects of inhaling such "erectogenics" - and the compounds they produce when burned - are unknown.
From issue 2680 of New Scientist magazine, 29 October 2008, page 6

 

 

 

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