Problems of Forensic Sciences 2011 Vol. 84 (LXXXIV) 401-408
GLAUCINE AS A NON-DECLARED ACTIVE COMPONENT OF “LEGAL HIGHS”
Bogna GEPPERT, Roman WACHOWIAK, Czesław ŻABA
Department of Forensic Medicine, University of Medical Sciences, Poznań, Poland
Streszczenie
Recently, a new class of legal psychoactive preparations, referred to colloquially as “legal highs”, has appeared in Poland. They contain substances with psychoactive properties which are not encompassed by current legislation. The study was performed on three samples of evidential material, which were selected from 120 preparations seized by local police forces in Poznań during a routine inspection of a “smart shop”. The qualitative and quantitative examination of the selected evidential material was performed by mass-spectrometry gas chromatography (GC-MS). The amount of glaucine found in the preparations exceeded therapeutic doses. Glaucine is an isoquinoline alkaloid of the apomorphine type, which is obtained mainly from the Glaucium flavum plant originating from the Papaveraceae family. Two medicinal preparations containing glaucine were available until recently in Poland on the pharmaceutical market: Tussiglaucin (Herbapol) and Glauvent (Pharmachim BG). Glaucine exhibits central antitussive properties similar to codeine; it acts spasmolytically, adrenolytically and antihydropically, and produces no dependency even after prolonged use. The main side-effects include: a feeling of sleepiness and tiredness, decreased blood pressure, nausea, vomiting and also glaucomatous visual hallucinations, typical for hallucinogens. In the case of unintentional consumption of glaucine preparations, attention must be paid to risks arising from the state of health of the consuming person, interactions with other drugs and individual susceptibility to this substance.
Słowa kluczowe
Glaucine; Legal highs; GC-MS.