Acute psychosis associated with recreational use of benzofuran 6-(2-aminopropyl)benzofuran (6-APB) and cannabis.

BACKGROUND

There is evidence from around Europe of the availability and use of 6-(2-aminopropyl)benzofuran (6-APB) as a recreational drug. However, there is currently limited information on the acute toxicity of this compound. We describe here a case of acute toxicity associated with recreational use of legal high (6-APB) and cannabis, in which the comprehensive toxicological analysis confirmed the presence of a significant amount of 6-APB together with metabolites of both tetrahydrocannabinol and the synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonist (JWH-122).

METHODS

A 21-year-old gentleman with no previous medical and psychiatric history was brought to the emergency department (ED) after he had developed agitation and paranoid behaviour following the use of 6-APB purchased over the Internet. There was no obvious medical cause for his acute psychosis. He required diazepam to control his agitation and was subsequently transferred to a psychiatric hospital for ongoing management of his psychosis. Toxicological screening of a urine sample collected after presentation to the ED detected 6-APB, with an estimated urinary concentration of 2,000 ng/ml; other drugs were also detected, but at lower concentrations including metabolites of the synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonist JWH-122 and tetrahydrocannabinol.

CONCLUSIONS

This is the first case of analytically confirmed acute toxicity associated with the detection of 6-APB which will provide some information on acute toxicity of this drug to help clinicians with the management of such patients and legislative authorities in their consideration for the need of its control.