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Case Reports
. 2016 Apr;40(3):236-9.
doi: 10.1093/jat/bkv142. Epub 2016 Jan 10.

Death Associated With the Use of the Synthetic Cannabinoid ADB-FUBINACA

Kevin G Shanks  1 , William Clark  2 , George Behonick  3
Affiliations
Case Reports

Death Associated With the Use of the Synthetic Cannabinoid ADB-FUBINACA

Kevin G Shanks et al. J Anal Toxicol. 2016 Apr.

Abstract

Synthetic cannabinoids have been found in herbal incense products for the last several years. We report the rapid death of an individual that was certified as synthetic cannabinoid-associated. The autopsy blood specimen was extracted by a liquid-liquid extraction at pH 10.2 into a hexane-ethyl acetate mixture and analyzed by a generalized synthetic cannabinoid LC-MS-MS method. For this case report, we briefly describe the instrumental analysis and extraction methods for the detection of ADB-FUBINACA in postmortem blood, toxicological results for the postmortem blood specimen (ADB-FUBINACA, 7.3 ng/mL; THC, 1.1 ng/mL; THC-COOH, 4.7 ng/mL), case information and circumstances and pertinent findings at autopsy. The cause of death was certified as coronary arterial thrombosis in combination with synthetic cannabinoid use. Manner of death was accident.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Chemical structures of JWH-018 and ADB-FUBINACA.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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