Cannabinoid mimics in chocolate utilized as an argument in court

A case is presented involving chocolate cannabinoid mimics which have been utilized in court by the defendant's lawyer in order to clear the accused o f smoking and dealing in marijuana after he was found positive for cannabis in a routine urine immunoassay screening test. The argumentation in this c ase was that the accused had supposedly eaten a massive amount of chocolate which contained anandamide-related lipids. These lipids inhibit anandamide hydrolysis in the brain, act as cannabinoid mimics and, according to the l awyer, were the cause of the positive cannabinoid test. To investigate this in detail, we synthesized N-oleoyl- and N-linoleoylethanolamide and spiked these compounds together with N-arachidonoylethanolamide in urine for immu nological investigations. None of the samples were found positive, indicati ng that no cross-reactivity occurs with cannabinoids. As a result, the lawy er's claim could be refuted and the accused was convicted.