Severe poisoning with semi-synthetic cannabinoids

Recently, semi-synthetic cannabinoids have entered the illegal market and are produced to mimic the psychoactive effects of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). This is a case report of a 19-year-old man, who was hospitalized due to severe sedation, hypotension and tachy- and bradycardia after ingestion of the semi-synthetic cannabinoids hexahydrocannabinol (HHC) and hexahydrocannabiphorol (HHC-P) mixed in food. HHC-P, HHC and metabolites were identified in blood samples. The amount of semi-synthetic cannabinoids in illegal products can be high, which can explain the described prolonged clinical effects.