Synthetic Psychedelics: A Growing Public Health Concern

insights from industryJonathan FergusonScience Business Leader, New StrategyShimadzu Scientific Instruments

In this interview, Jonathan Ferguson discusses how knowledge of an emerging public health concern identified at Pittcon 2024 has evolved a year on.

Can you introduce yourself, your background, and your role at Shimadzu?

I'm Jonathan Ferguson, the Scientific Business Leader in the New Strategy Department at Shimadzu Scientific Instruments. I'm based in Columbia, Maryland.

I grew up in a small town in Illinois with just 250 to 300 people. I’ve always loved learning how things work. I find it extremely exciting to discover something new that contributes to the wider body of knowledge on a subject, whether a novel protein modification or an unexplored biochemical mechanism.

I was in Professor Neil Kelleher's lab when he was at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. I remember walking to his lab and seeing the Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometer (FT-ICR MS) with its massive 8.5 Tesla magnet.

The instrument was hand-built and not commercialized, which meant it was possible to tinker with everything. I had the opportunity to hands-on troubleshoot and learn how it functioned and repair it. The amount you learn from that hands-on approach is just incredible.

Can you tell us more about the symposium you presented at last year’s Pittcon?

In 2024, Pittcon had its first Psychedelic Symposium. My presentation was on the quality control of naturally occurring psilocybin-containing compounds intended for clinical trials and the treatment of depression. These compounds are often mushrooms, and sometimes, these are put in chocolates and gummies available online or from convenience stores, head shops, or even gas stations in places like Oregon, where psilocybin has been legalized at the state level.

I was the second speaker at that symposium. The first was Fritsch USA, who discussed good milling strategies and the need for good sample preparation. The Scottsdale Research Institute (Scottsdale, AZ and the only DEA licensed grower of psychedelic mushrooms) gave the third talk, and Rose City Laboratories (Portland, OR) wrapped up with the fourth session.

At that fourth talk, Bjorn Fritzsche, the senior R&D scientist at Rose City Laboratories, concluded his talk by sharing data on products that he acquired at gas stations and head shops that were marketed with mushroom-like labels. It is important to note that these products are NOT tested as part of the Oregon Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program (ORELAP). He ran the samples on his GC-MS (gas chromatography - mass spectrometry) system and identified cannabinoids and horse tranquilizers, which was quite surprising.

Pittcon addresses synthetic psychedelics crisis; Boston 2025 to advance collaboration

We're increasingly discovering that what's on the packaging for these types of products does not match what the product contains.

While this field can be something of a ‘wild west’ with many moving targets, the advertised contents should match what’s actually in the product from a consumer’s point of view. This is especially important because consumers could unknowingly be purchasing dangerous ingredients.

I believe that's when the term ‘syndelics’ (synthetic psychedelics) was coined? Can you tell us more about your collaborative work in this area?

After Bjorn Fritzsche discovered these compounds, we wanted to pursue this area of investigation further. We connected Rose City Laboratories with Richard Van Breemen at the Linus Pauling Institute (Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR) to enable a deeper analysis and hopefully confirm what was seen in these samples.

This work was interesting because this symposium was supposed to be about quality control methodologies in accredited labs, but it led to the discovery of unexpected synthetic psychedelics in consumer products.

We are currently working on a manuscript to publish in a peer-reviewed journal, and we'll present some of this interesting but somewhat alarming data at future conferences.

At Pittcon, there are talks on cannabis edibles and the regulation of these products. How significant is Pittcon in facilitating these conversations and bringing these issues to light?

I think it's very important. Pittcon is more than just an exhibition hall and a space for marketing. It's a hub for collaboration and innovation that allows researchers, customers, and companies to come together to work on mutual problems and publish research together.

Without that forum, these types of relationships wouldn't occur. I want to thank Pittcon for establishing an environment where we can come together to work on science that's interesting and meaningful and has a real impact on everyone.

Historically, we’d see chemists working alone in basements, but that doesn't happen anymore. We need many researchers to work on these projects because we all have different expertise. Without these collaborations, we wouldn't be able to move science forward as quickly as we do.

In terms of public health hazards like the one I mentioned, it’s also important to talk about what we are going to do about it. For example, Shimadzu Scientific Instruments can get the information out by having the data grounded in good science, presenting it, and publishing it. I think it’s most important that we address these problems from a good factual foundation.

What are some of the most common challenges in detecting the potentially harmful substances hidden in these products?

Analyzing the gummies and chocolates I mentioned presents different challenges. The matrix (the gummy or the chocolate) will feature different compounds that are supposed to be there, but can interfere with our analysis. So, we need to think about how to prepare that sample so that we can precisely target our analytes of interest.

Detecting and identifying adulterants in these products can be difficult because they’re not being manufactured in a regulated way. For example, we don't know what was introduced into the sample, and there can be such a wide variety of variations and substituents in these molecules that analyzing them presents a real challenge.

This is famously called the ‘unknown unknowns,’ where while we know we have to look for some things, ingredients may be added that we really don't expect and are currently trying to detect. Furthermore, what we’re looking for can change from sample to sample.

What Shimadzu technologies have been used in this collaborative project? Are there other examples where specific technological approaches have been used to meet analytical challenges?

I would argue that liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC-MS) is still the gold standard in this research area. Bjorn Fritzsche’s analysis was done by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, which is also a good technique that goes hand in hand with LC-MS.

Richard Van Breemen uses a Shimadzu quadrupole time-of-flight instrument because it has higher resolution and higher mass accuracy—an important consideration when dealing with the ‘unknown unknowns’ that I've talked about.

However, using that high-end technology can sometimes be too much. When I gave the second talk of the symposium, my focus was on providing a methodology that only used liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection (LC-UV).

This methodology is not as specific, but with the right approach, you can run these kinds of samples much more cost-effectively than via higher-spec instruments. UV is not as accurate in the sense that there is no mass to charge, but once we work out the relevant retention times and know what the relevant absorbance profiles look like, we can use a technique called IPDeA to clean up the chromatogram. This allows us to achieve very accurate quantitation results more cheaply.

This cost-effectiveness is important because we want to save lives. If only a handful of people in the world can analyze these samples effectively, the results will not be helpful.

Shimadzu Scientific Instruments is a leader in liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry, but thinking even beyond that, I was at a talk on developing a method where one of the requirements was not to use power.

Some parts of the world don't have access to reliable electricity or any electricity, and, at the moment, I don't know anybody who makes an LC-MS that doesn't require electricity. Those customers have a different set of requirements. For example, they might need to use an analytical tool that is antibody-based or that changes color in the presence of the analyte.

With the psychedelics market set to grow in the US, what are the major challenges with regulation, and what would you like to see change?

There is already a lot of history in this area. For example, the advent of hippie culture in the United States in the 1970s saw psychedelics listed as a Schedule One drug, which meant that it had no known medical uses. That essentially stopped all research into psychedelics for 30 years.

In the 2000s, things started up again. Companies began doing research to find out what potential medicinal uses these substances had. That work continued, and in 2019, Denver, Colorado, decriminalized psilocybin. That was quickly followed by Oregon and Colorado State decriminalizing and legalizing psilocybin, with Oregon setting up a regulatory framework. That doesn’t change the fact that it's still illegal on the federal level, however.

At Shimadzu Scientific Instruments, we always do everything through legal pathways. That's why we worked with Rose City Labs, because they are licensed to run these samples. Richard Van Breemen also has a license to do the analytics.

There's a lot you can do with just standards, but having these collaborations, particularly in the psychedelics field, is so important because we are limited in our ability to study these substances in a legal way.

I’m not an expert on the regulatory side, but I do believe that people should know what they are consuming and that what is on the package should match what is in the product.

What else is next for this collaboration, and for Shimadzu Scientific Instruments in general?

In terms of our wider work, we tend to follow what customers need. When there is a need, Shimadzu Scientific Instruments will aim to fulfill it. Some of this work will be driven by regulations that are beyond our control, but we're always trying to meet our customers' current needs while working to anticipate what may be coming next.

We’re led by the science on this collaborative project. As I mentioned, we weren’t going to specifically look at gummies and chocolates from head shops, but that’s where the science directed us. I think the results of this work will prompt a reaction when people realize the potential risks associated with these products.

I don't see work in the field stopping anytime soon. There's always going to be something else requiring urgent investigation and analysis. To address these issues, it’s important that we stick to the fundamentals, keep reviewing the literature, and keep establishing collaborations so that we can try to stay ahead of this rapidly changing field. Ultimately, this is important because these are people's lives.

About Jonathan Ferguson

Dr. Jonathan T. Ferguson received his Ph.D. in 2008 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he studied Top-Down proteomics in the laboratory of Professor Neil Kelleher. Following his doctoral work, he has developed a wide range of customer applications involving HPLC coupled with various mass spectrometry platforms. His early work focused on proteomics, monoclonal antibodies, and nano-LC techniques. Over time, his expertise has expanded to include small molecule characterization across a broad range of applications.

In 2022, Dr. Ferguson joined Shimadzu Scientific Instruments in Columbia, MD. In his current role, he leads collaborative efforts to develop innovative hardware and analytical workflows tailored to emerging market needs. His ongoing projects include application development using Shimadzu’s MALDI-MS systems, the LCMS-8060RX triple quadrupole, and the LCMS-9050 Q-TOF. He is also actively engaged in the scientific community, currently serving as co-chair of the Washington–Baltimore Mass Spectrometry Discussion Group (WBMSDG).

About Pittcon

Pittcon is the world’s largest annual premier conference and exposition on laboratory science. Pittcon attracts more than 16,000 attendees from industry, academia and government from over 90 countries worldwide.

Their mission is to sponsor and sustain educational and charitable activities for the advancement and benefit of scientific endeavor.

Pittcon’s target audience is not just “analytical chemists,” but all laboratory scientists — anyone who identifies, quantifies, analyzes or tests the chemical or biological properties of compounds or molecules, or who manages these laboratory scientists.

Having grown beyond its roots in analytical chemistry and spectroscopy, Pittcon has evolved into an event that now also serves a diverse constituency encompassing life sciences, pharmaceutical discovery and QA, food safety, environmental, bioterrorism and cannabis/psychedelics.

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