半合成カンナビノイドが検出される植物系危険ドラッグ製品の基原植物について

抄録

In Japan, it is illegal to sell herbal products and powders that contain psychoactive compounds. Many of these illegal herbal products are presumed to be manufactured by artificially adding synthetic cannabinoids to plant pieces that do not naturally have any psychoactive properties, particularly products that are expected to have cannabis-like effects. In recent years, semi-synthetic cannabinoids prepared by performing simple chemical transformations of Cannabis plant extracts have appeared on the illegal drug market and are often distributed as vape products. Although semi-synthetic cannabinoids are known not to be detected in plants, plant pieces containing the semi-synthetic cannabinoid tetrahydrocannabinol-O-acetate (THC-O) were found in this study. Therefore, we investigated the botanical origin of this illegal herbal product by performing GC-MS and liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry analysis, DNA sequence analysis, and morphological observation with a stereoscopic microscope. Cannabidiol (CBD), THC-O, and cannabidiolic acid, which is the inactive precursor of CBD in plants, were detected in this product. DNA sequence analysis revealed that most of the plant pieces were from Cannabis sativa L. In combination with the results from the morphological observation, most of the plant pieces were identified as coming from the Cannabis plant. Accordingly, it was suggested that the investigated illegal herbal product consisted of Cannabis plant pieces, the main component of which was CBD, with THC-O artificially added to the pieces.