Is cannabis being doped with Viagra? – health – 31 October 2008 – New Scientist
THAT illegal drugs are not always pure is no surprise, but is cannabis being laced with a Viagra-like compound?Dries de Kaste and colleagues at the National Institute of Public Health and the Environment in Bilthoven, the Netherlands, analysed a liquid that police found being sold on the streets of Utrecht as a “marijuana adulterant”.
They found compounds called homosildenafil (HS) and thiohomosildenafil (THS) in it, which belong to the same class of compounds as sildenafil, sold as Viagra. All three inhibit the breakdown of an enzyme that dilates blood vessels in the penis, increasing blood flow.
De Kaste does not know why HS and THS are being added to cannabis, but speculates that it could be to enhance the uptake of its psychoactive constituents, or to exploit a perception that marijuana use affects libido.
HS and THS were not destroyed when they were “smoked” using a laboratory simulator (Forensic Science International, DOI: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2008.09.002). The health effects of inhaling such “erectogenics” – and the compounds they produce when burned – are unknown.
As far as I can tell, marijuana use does affect libido, and I’ve been told the same by many people. When I first read the headline – is cannabis being doped with Viagra – I thought, “Isn’t that redundant?” Seems like spiking your meth with a little Ritalin.
I don’t think this is a very good idea. First of all, let’s keep the natural drug natural, okay? Herb is a beautiful thing and it doesn’t need any pharmaceutical help.
Second, those erection pills have many serious side effects, especially for men with heart disease or taking certain prescriptions. It is never cool to be taking a drug without knowing exactly what you’re getting, and what somebody thinks is a cool idea to make “boner spliffs” could be the puff that kills somebody someday.
Third, what about women smoking those joints? We don’t know what effect it could have on them, and we don’t know the effect of smoking these drugs on anybody.
