The medical uses of 'legal high' substances

‘Synthetic legal highs’ are often created out of substances which are currently being examined for their medicinal effects. Such as for instance 4-methylthiamphetamine which was being examined for its medical effects before becoming a synthetic legal high. Substances in the JWH series were also being explored for their medical uses before being used as legal highs. Therefore it is no surprise that most legal highs come out of research papers looking at the medicinal benefits of substances.

David Nichols for instance was trying to develop a safe version of ecstasy due to the use of ecstasy in psychotherapy. He went about making an alternative called 4-methylthiamphetamine (MTA) it was very promising at treating mood and anxiety disorders and he published three articles on it. However it emerged that it was being made into a legal high called a "flatliner". It has since been classified as a class A drug in the UK and it has also made David Nichols stop researching the positive effects of it.

The media who create a form of hysteria around legal highs by negatively framing it and amplification the issue means that policy makers rush to ban them before a proper investigation. For instance the death of two teenagers helped increase the media frenzy to get mephedrone banned in the UK. It was however later shown that both teenagers did not take mephedrone after a toxicology tests were conducted. People like Professor David Nutt have since then accused the government in the UK of banning the substance without enough evidence because of the pressure mounted by the media onto politicians.

The potential medical benefits of some of the legal highs are often forgotten in the debate and it sometimes means that new treatments for diseases are lost. For instance a paper by Ramirez, Blazquez, Gomez, Guzman and Ceballos shows that substances in the JWH series (JWH-133 in particular) are very effective in fighting amyloid-beta protein. Amyloid-beta is the main component in amyloid plague in Alzheimer's patients, research by Dr Kishore Kuchibhotla has shown that the amyloid plague has a big impact on Alzheimer's patients, so the fact that JWH series substances can fight Amyloid-Beta proteins is very promising.

As well as JWH-133 being useful for the prevention of Amyloid-Beta buildup recent studies have shown that it can actually be used to reduce cocaine consumption in addicts. Which is slightly ironic because if a drug was developed it would use synthetic cannabidiol (CBD) in the form of which is a component in marijuana (after THC CBD is the second most active compound in Marijuana) that activates the receptor, CB2. This highlights the absurdity of the ban on Marijuana especially since the DEA seems to think there is no medical use for it despite evidence saying otherwise. Such as from the institute of medicine (IOM) in its Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the science base’ report it constantly talks about the potential theoretic value. It highlights how important the JWH series could be for science considering it can be used to reduce cocaine consumption and help people people with Alzheimer’s.

The problem is though that substances within JWH are also used for legal highs JWH-018 for instance is permanently banned in several countries whilst JWH-073 and JWH-200 have all been temporarily banned in America while they are investigated by the DEA with the prospects of them both being permanently banned. If a substance is banned medical research on it will become harder and that will put off many research companies. The reasons why it becomes harder is because there are firstly marketing issue, pharmaceutical companies don’t want to be associated with substances deemed dangerous by the DEA but secondly there are also regulatory hurdles which puts off pharmaceutical companies and it means that further research into substances such as JWH-133 come to a halt and with that the possibility of new medicinally beneficial drugs coming out.

The Kronic backlash as they call it in New Zealand has also had an undesired impact on medical research there. The negative media and attention on ‘legal highs’ in New Zealand has meant that funding for cannabinoid related research has become endangered especially since a big proportion of the research money comes from conservative research funding bodies. It means that studies using synthetic cannabinoids that could create new treatments for cancer and strokes is put in jeopardy. Currently there are two synthetic cannabinoids which are used legally around the world for medical use these are Nabilone and Dronabinol but many across the world including researchers such as Dr John Ashton in New Zealand believe that many more synthetic cannabinoids could have medical benefits. Such as Ajulemic Acid(CT3) which has in several research papers been shown to have antitumour effects and in the future become useful in treating cancer. The label of ‘synthetic cannabinoids’ now brings negative connotations of ‘legal highs’ which could put off potential funders because of the media and the negative perception that the media has created around synthetic cannabinoids.

As well as the medical implications of the banning of some legal highs there is also the business side of things. The fact that politicians and the media have constantly gone on about the dangers of ‘bath salts’ and ‘incense’ meaning that legitimate businesses which sell legitimate bath salts and incense are losing business such as one business run in Missouri which has reported that since the media and politicians have been focusing on ‘bath salts’ it has had a major impact on business.