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The Negative Effects of Spice Gold

Spice Gold is marketed as an herbal incense -- but it's used to get high. Although it contains a number of non-intoxicating herbs, it also has synthetic cannabinoids, including one called JWH 018. Cannabinoids target the same neuro receptors as THC, the active ingredient in marijuana. According to WebMD, Spice Gold was available on the Internet and in Europe by 2004, but sales didn't skyrocket in the United States and Canada until 2009. No long-term studies have been completed yet, but preliminary research and anecdotal reports suggest several negative effects of Spice Gold.

  1. Dependence

    • Deutsches Ärzteblatt International, the German Medical Association's official science journal, published a report about a patient who sought treatment for what appeared to be withdrawal from having stopped using Spice Gold after 8 months of heavy use. Science Daily quotes the report as stating, "He felt continuous craving for the drug and this caused him to carry on consuming it, in spite of the cognitive impairment it caused him. This led him to neglect his duties at his workplace and he was now threatened with unemployment." The authors note that his continued use of Spice Gold despite serious negative effects is indicative of dependence. They attribute the withdrawal symptoms to the cannabinoid substances found in Spice Gold.

    Overdose

    • According to Drug1Scope, there are reports of Spice Gold users seeking treatment for such symptoms of overdose as panic attacks and paranoia. Some apparent overdose patients have been hospitalized in Germany.

    Unknown Consequences

    • The cannibinoids thought to produce the "high" experienced by people who use Spice Gold targets the part of the brain that regulates temperature, memory, problem solving and the immune system. Neither the cannabinoid or the herbal ingredients have been tested in humans, so there's no way to know what the long-term consequences may be. These substances do remain in the body for an extended period of time. This concerns Dr. Marilyn Huestis, chief of chemistry and drug metabolism at the National Institute for Drug Abuse. "There may be acute toxicity; there may be long-term toxicity. We don't know any of that."

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