John William Huffman is a professor emeritus of organic chemistry at Clemson University

Clemson University

Clemson University is an American public, coeducational, land-grant, sea-grant, research university located in Clemson, South Carolina, United States....

 who first synthesised many novel cannabinoids, including JWH-007

JWH-007

JWH-007 is an analgesic chemical from the naphthoylindole family, which acts as a cannabinoid agonist at both the CB1 and CB2 receptors. It was the most active of the first group of N-alkyl naphoylindoles discovered by the team led by John W Huffman, several years after the family was initially...

, JWH-015

JWH-015

JWH-015 is a chemical from the naphthoylindole family, which acts as a subtype-selective cannabinoid agonist. Its affinity for CB2 receptors is 13.8nM, while its affinity for CB1 is 383nM, meaning that it binds almost 28x more strongly to CB2 than CB1. However it still displays some weak CB1...

, JWH-018

JWH-018

JWH-018 or AM-678 is an analgesic chemical from the naphthoylindole family, which acts as a full agonist at both the CB1 and CB2 cannabinoid receptors, with some selectivity for CB2...

, JWH-019

JWH-019

JWH-019 is an analgesic chemical from the naphthoylindole family, which acts as a cannabinoid agonist at both the CB1 and CB2 receptors. It is the N1-hexyl homologue of the more common synthetic cannabinoid compound JWH-018...

, JWH-030

JWH-030

JWH-030 is a research chemical which is a cannabinoid receptor agonist. It has analgesic effects and is used in scientific research. It is a partial agonist at CB1 receptors, with a Ki of 87nM, making it roughly half the potency of THC. It was discovered and named after Dr. John W. Huffman....

, JWH-051

JWH-051

JWH-051 is an analgesic drug which is a cannabinoid agonist. Its chemical structure is closely related to that of the potent cannabinoid agonist HU-210, with the only difference being the removal of the hydroxyl group at position 1 of the aromatic ring. It was discovered and named after Dr. John W...

, JWH-073

JWH-073

JWH-073 is an analgesic chemical from the naphthoylindole family, which acts as a partial agonist at both the CB1 and CB2 cannabinoid receptors. It is somewhat selective for the CB1 subtype, with affinity at this subtype approximately 5x the affinity at CB2. The abbreviation JWH stands for John W...

, JWH-081

JWH-081

JWH-081 is an analgesic chemical from the naphthoylindole family, which acts as a cannabinoid agonist at both the CB1 and CB2 receptors. With a Ki of 1.2nM it is fairly selective for the CB1 subtype, its affinity at this subtype approximately 10x the affinity at CB2. It was discovered by and named...

, JWH-122

JWH-122

JWH-122 is a synthetic cannabimimetic that was discovered by John W. Huffman. It has a Ki of 0.69 nM at CB1 and 1.2 nM at CB2....

, JWH-133

JWH-133

JWH-133 is a potent selective CB2 receptor agonist, with a Ki of 3.4nM and selectivity of around 200x for CB2 over CB1 receptors. It was discovered by, and named after, John W...

, JWH-147

JWH-147

JWH-147 is an analgesic drug used in scientific research, which acts as a cannabinoid agonist at both the CB1 and CB2 receptors. It is somewhat selective for the CB2 subtype, with a Ki of 11.0nM at CB1 vs 7.1nM at CB2. It was discovered and named after Dr. John W. Huffman...

, JWH-171

JWH-171

JWH-171 is an analgesic drug which acts as a cannabinoid receptor agonist. Its binding affinity at the CB1 receptor is only 51.0nM, making it slightly less potent than THC itself, however JWH-171 is particularly notable in that it is a hydrocarbon containing no heteroatoms...

, JWH-182, JWH-203

JWH-203

JWH-203 is an analgesic chemical from the phenylacetylindole family, which acts as a cannabinoid agonist with approximately equal affinity at both the CB1 and CB2 receptors, having a Ki of 8.0nM at CB1 and 7.0nM at CB2...

, JWH-210

JWH-210

JWH-210 is an analgesic chemical from the naphthoylindole family, which acts as a potent cannabinoid agonist at both the CB1 and CB2 receptors, with Ki values of 0.46nM at CB1 and 0.69nM at CB2. It is one of the most potent 4-substituted naphthoyl derivatives in the naphthoylindole series, having a...

, JWH-250

JWH-250

JWH-250 or is an analgesic chemical from the phenylacetylindole family, which acts as a cannabinoid agonist at both the CB1 and CB2 receptors, with a Ki of 11nM at CB1 and 33nM at CB2...

, JWH-307

JWH-307

JWH-307 is an analgesic drug used in scientific research, which acts as a cannabinoid agonist at both the CB1 and CB2 receptors. It is somewhat selective for the CB2 subtype, with a Ki of 7.7nM at CB1 vs 3.3nM at CB2. It was discovered by, and named after, Dr. John W. Huffman....

, JWH-359

JWH-359

JWH-359 is a dibenzopyran "classical" cannabinoid drug, which is a potent and selective CB2 receptor agonist, with a Ki of 13.0nM and selectivity of around 220x for CB2 over CB1 receptors. It is related to other dibenzopyran CB2 agonists such as JWH-133 and L-759,656 but with a chiral side chain...

 and JWH-398

JWH-398

JWH-398 is an analgesic chemical from the naphthoylindole family, which acts as a cannabinoid agonist at both the CB1 and CB2 receptors. It has mild selectivity for CB1 with a Ki of 2.3nM and 2.8nM at CB2. It was identified by the EMCDDA as an ingredient in three separate "herbal incense" products...

. His research, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse

National Institute on Drug Abuse

The National Institute on Drug Abuse is a United States federal-government research institute whose mission is to "lead the Nation in bringing the power of science to bear on drug abuse and addiction."-History:...

, was focused on making a drug to target endocannabinoid receptors in the body.

Beginning in 1984, Huffman and his team of researchers began developing cannabinoid compounds to aid in research of multiple sclerosis, AIDS, and chemotherapy. Over the course of twenty years, Huffman and his team developed 450 synthetic cannabinoid compounds which were used to test the effect of cannabinoid receptors in the brain and other organs. Ultimately, the cannabinoid research provided understanding of diseases and information for medication development.
In the late 2000s, two of Huffman's cannabinoid compounds began being sold in Germany as marijuana alternatives known as K2 and Spice. "I figured once it got started in Germany it was going to spread. I'm concerned that it could hurt people," Huffman said. "I think this was something that was more or less inevitable. It bothers me that people are so stupid as to use this stuff". Huffman may have developed these compounds for scientific research, but now he gets blamed for its abuse. Angered by this accusation, Huffman says "If you go around paying $40 for a packet of leaves that contains who knows what and smoke it, you are not a very responsible person".
As JWH-018 is more potent and easy to make, Huffman believes it is more widely used synthetic cannabinoid of the JWH series.

Law enforcement

More than half a dozen countries have banned herbal blends containing synthetic cannabinoids since 2008. Many countries also consider banning these mixtures. In the US, the state of Kansas banned K2. JWH-018 is currently banned by controlled substances act.

Law enforcement officials in Canada asked Huffman to serve as a consultant and expert witness. He received numerous media queries and requests for analytical help from law enforcement officials.

Interview

In an interview, Huffman said: "It's like playing russian roulette because we don’t have toxicity data, we don’t know the metabolites, and we don’t know the pharmacokinetics". Huffman finds it difficult when he hears stories about friends or relatives who have gotten ill or died from using one of the synthetic cannabinoids which he designed. Still, he feels that he is not responsible for the actions of those who use them; he created these research compounds and published them - "I wasn’t the least bit surprised (that they were being produced). Somebody is going to look for something to make money from and to bring people temporary pleasure...".