Acute Effects of the Novel Psychoactive Drug 2C-B on Emotions

Introduction

2C-B (4-bromo-2,5-dimethoxyphenethylamine, “Nexus”) is a phenylethylamine first synthesised by Alexander Shulgin in 1974 and has become one of the more widely used novel psychoactive substances (NPS) in Europe and Australia. Previous preclinical work suggests 2C-B modulates monoamine systems (inhibiting serotonin uptake and acting to a lesser extent on norepinephrine and dopamine transporters), alters dopamine metabolites in the nucleus accumbens, and produces dose-dependent effects on locomotion. Human data are limited and mixed: 2C-B has been variously classified as stimulant, hallucinogen, entactogen or empathogen, and it is frequently encountered as an adulterant of MDMA tablets. Its receptor profile is incompletely characterised, with reports of partial 5-HT-2A and 5-HT-2C activity and metabolism via monoamine oxidases and cytochrome P450 enzymes. This study aimed to characterise the acute emotional, subjective and cardiovascular effects of a single 20 mg oral dose of 2C-B in healthy recreational users, with particular interest in clarifying whether its effects fit an entactogenic profile, a psychedelic/hallucinogenic profile, or a mixture of both. González and colleagues set out to measure emotion processing (using validated picture and facial recognition tasks), spontaneous speech characteristics, a battery of subjective-effect questionnaires, vital signs and saliva concentrations over a 6-hour period after self-administration.