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Beware of blotting paper hallucinogens: severe toxicity with NBOMes
Author(s) -
Isbister Geoffrey K,
Poklis Alphonse,
Poklis Justin L,
Grice Jeffrey
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/mja15.00650
Subject(s) - commonwealth , grice , newcastle upon tyne , library science , classics , art , art history , political science , philosophy , law , computer science , linguistics , pragmatics
doi: 10.5694/mja15.00650 Dimethoxyphenyl-N-[(2-methoxyphenyl)methyl] ethanamine derivatives (NBOMes) are a novel class of potent synthetic hallucinogens originally developed as 5-HT2 receptor agonists for research purposes, but which have become available as recreational drugs in the past few years.3 They are available under a number of street names, including “N-bombs”, and are often sold as “acid” or “LSD” on blotting paper, as a powder, or as blue tablets (“blue batman”). They have been increasingly associated over the past 2 years with deaths and severe toxicity in North America and Europe.3–5 Most reports have concerned 25I-NBOMe intoxication, and there is much less information on the 25Band 25C-NBOMe derivatives.2,6,7 While difficult to assess because of the sparse number of reports, 25B-NBOMe may be more toxic than the more commonly reported 25I-NBOMe.3,4 Our case is consistent with previous reports of severe NBOMe toxicity, with agitation, tachycardia and mild hypertension, seizures, rhabdomyolysis and acute kidney injury.3