Clinical toxicology (Philadelphia, Pa.)
November 1, 2015
Matilda Bäckberg, Olof Beck, Anders Helander
3-Methoxy-phencyclidine (3-MeO-PCP) and 4-methoxy-phencyclidine (4-MeO-PCP) are analogs of and drug substitutes for the dissociative substance PCP ("Angel dust"), a recreational drug that was most popular in the 1970s. In Sweden, use of methoxylated PCP analogs was noted starting in mid-2013, according to statistics from the Poisons Information Centre. The objective of this case series was to...
Scandinavian Journal of Clinical and Laboratory Investigation
May 22, 2013
Anders Helander, Olof Beck, Robert Hägerkvist et al.
82 citations
AIM: The study aimed to collect information concerning the increasing use of new psychoactive substances, commonly sold through online shops as 'Internet drugs' or 'legal highs', or in terms of masked products such as 'bath salts' and 'plant food'. METHODS: The Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Laboratory and the Swedish Poisons Information Centre have initiated a project called...
Clinical toxicology (Philadelphia, Pa.)
July 1, 2009
Kristian Björnstad, Peter Hultén, Olof Beck et al.
35 citations
Problems associated with the increasing abuse of plant-derived psychoactive substances have recently attracted attention. This study involved bioanalytical and clinical examinations of intoxication cases suspected to be linked to such plant materials. Urine samples were collected at emergency wards in Sweden from patients who either admitted or were suspected of ingestion of psychoactive plant...
Journal of chromatography. B, Analytical technologies in the biomedical and life sciences
April 15, 2009
Kristian Björnstad, Olof Beck, Anders Helander
71 citations
A sensitive and specific LC-MS/MS method for simultaneous detection of 10 plant-derived psychoactive substances (atropine, N,N-dimethyltryptamine, ephedrine, harmaline, harmine, ibogaine, lysergic acid amide, psilocin, scopolamine and yohimbine) in urine was developed. Direct injection of urine diluted with 3 deuterated internal standards allowed for a readily accessible method suitable for...
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
June 1, 2008
Jan G. Bruhn, Hesham R. Ei-Seedi, Nikolai Stephanson et al.
11 citations
Human interest in psychoactive phenethylamines is known from the use of mescaline-containing cacti and designer drugs such as Ecstasy. From the alkaloid composition of cacti we hypothesized that substances resembling Ecstasy might occur naturally. In this article we show that lophophine, homopiperonylamine and lobivine are new minor constituents of two cactus species, Lophophora williamsii...
Journal of Ethnopharmacology
October 3, 2005
Hesham R. El‐seedi, Peter A. G. M. de Smet, Olof Beck et al.
162 citations
Two archaeological specimens of peyote buttons, i.e. dried tops of the cactus Lophophora williamsii (Lem.) Coulter, from the collection of the Witte Museum in San Antonio, was subjected to radiocarbon dating and alkaloid analysis. The samples were presumably found in Shumla Cave No. 5 on the Rio Grande, Texas. Radiocarbon dating shows that the calibrated 14C age of the weighted mean of the two...
Journal of Analytical Toxicology
2003
Helena K. Nordgren, Olof Beck
43 citations
There is a limit in the number of substances detected by commercially available reagents. It is therefore important to have other, complementary techniques. Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS) may offer one possibility. An LC-MS-MS procedure based on the detection of positive ions after atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) was developed for direct measurement of...
Journal of Analytical Toxicology
1998
Olof Beck, Anders Helander, Christine Karlson-Stiber et al.
58 citations
The use of mushrooms containing the hallucinogenic substance psilocybin for intentional intoxication is relatively common. Occasionally, this results in adverse reactions with typical tachycardia that is not evidently caused by psilocybin. This study demonstrates the presence of phenylethylamine in the species Psilocybe semilanceata using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and shows that the...