Ingredients
Spice was claimed by the manufacturers to contain a mixture of traditionally used medicinal herbs, each of which supposedly produces mild effects with the overall blend resulting in the cannabis-like intoxication produced by the product. Herbs listed on the packaging include Canavalia maritima, Nymphaea caerulea, Scutellaria nana, Pedicularis densiflora, Leonotis leonurus, Zornia latifolia, Nelumbo nucifera and Leonurus sibiricus. However when the product was analysed by laboratories in Germany and elsewhere, it was found that many of the characteristic “fingerprint” molecules expected to be present from the claimed plant ingredients could not be located, and also there were large amounts of synthetic tocopherol present. This suggested that the actual ingredients might not be the same as what was listed on the packet, and a German government risk assessment of the product conducted in November 2008 concluded that it was unclear what the actual plant ingredients were, where the synthetic tocopherol had come from, and whether the subjective cannabis-like effects were actually produced by any of the claimed plant ingredients or instead might possibly be caused by a synthetic cannabinoid drug.[1]
[edit] Synthetic cannabinoid ingredients
On December 15 2008, it was announced by German pharmaceutical company THCPharm, that JWH-018 had been found as one of the active components in at least three versions of the supposedly “herbal” smoking blend, cannabis substitute drug Spice, which had been sold in a number of countries around the world since 2002 as an “incense” or legal substitute for marijuana.[2][3][4][5]
On January 19 2009, it was announced by the University of Freiburg in Germany that the other main active substance in Spice is an undisclosed analogue of the synthetic cannabinoid CP 47,497.[6] On the 22nd January 2009, CP 47,497 along with its dimethylhexyl, dimethyloctyl and dimethylnonyl homologues, were added to the German controlled drug schedules (“Betäubungsmittelgesetz”).[7][8] Different ratios of JWH-018 and CP 47,497 and their analogues had apparently been used in the various different varieties of Spice.
Another potent synthetic cannabinoid, HU-210, has been reported to have been found in Spice seized by the US Customs & Border Protection.[9] However, this has yet to be confirmed and the test results have not been made available to the public.
[edit] Competing Products
A large number of competing products made by other manufacturers appeared shortly after the emergence of spice. Of these products “Smoke” and “Skunk” were found to contain both JWH-018 and oleamide [10]. However, the ingredients of many other market competitors are still unknown.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spice_(drug)
