JWH-250.

JWH-250 is a synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonist of the phenylacetylindole class: an indole nucleus bearing an N-pentyl chain receives at position 3 a 2-methoxyphenylacetyl group, in place of the naphthoyl of the earlier compounds of the same series. The binding values retained by the WHO come from the original 2005 paper: an inhibition constant of 11 nanomolar at CB1 and 33 nanomolar at CB2, a three-fold selectivity in favour of the central receptor. The World Health Organization places its potency at the level of Δ9-THC, and animal experiments agree: in rhesus monkeys, the substance increases Δ9-THC lever responding in a discrimination test, the effect fading one to two hours after administration and being antagonised by rimonabant. In mice, the molecule reproduces the cannabinoid tetrad, hypothermia, analgesia, catalepsy and reduced locomotion, with in addition seizures and a release of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens. The sources consulted report no action at TRPV1, GPR55, PPARγ or 5-HT1A. Human data are lacking on the essentials: the WHO expert committee concluded in 2014 that no conclusion could be drawn on the toxicity of JWH-250 in humans, for lack of any documented case of exposure to this molecule alone, and dependence potential and abuse potential have not been studied.

Source

An entirely synthetic molecule, with no natural occurrence: it exists neither in hemp nor in any other living organism. Designed as a tool of academic pharmacology, it was spotted in smoking mixtures sold over the internet and in specialised shops from 2009. The amount of JWH-250 varies considerably from one package to another (WHO report 2014). Polish analyses covering more than two thousand samples seized between 2008 and 2011 detect it seventy-five times, most often together with JWH-073 or JWH-081.

No biosynthetic pathway exists: JWH-250 derives from no plant or animal metabolism and has no natural precursor. It belongs exclusively to synthetic chemistry. No operating detail is provided here.

European Union

JWH-250 is not among the synthetic cannabinoids named in Schedule II of the 1971 Convention on psychotropic substances (Green List of the International Narcotics Control Board, 35th edition, 2024) and is under no international control. The WHO Expert Committee on Drug Dependence reviewed it at its thirty-sixth meeting (Geneva, 16-20 June 2014) and recommended not placing it under international control at this stage while keeping it under surveillance; its report noted that no toxicity data for the molecule alone were available. Control therefore remains national and heterogeneous: in 2014 the WHO recorded it as scheduled notably in the United States, Germany, Luxembourg, Italy, the Czech Republic, Latvia and Sweden.

France

JWH-250 is named explicitly in annex IV of the decree of 22 February 1990 fixing the list of substances classified as narcotics, in the consolidated list of ANSM (updated 16 February 2026), under the wording “JWH-250 or 1-pentyl-3-(2-methoxyphenylacetyl) indole or 1-(1-pentyl-1H-indol-3-yl)-2-(2-methoxyphenyl)-ethanone”, among the examples given after the definition of the “indol-3-yl methanone” family. The block of synthetic cannabinoids to which this entry belongs is tied in the list to several decrees (24 February 2009, 19 May 2015, 31 March 2017, 3 October 2017 and 14 October 2019), without the list saying which one scheduled this molecule. Production, possession, transfer, import and use fall under the narcotics regime. The substance has no food, cosmetic or therapeutic status and enters no legal CBD product.

Sources: EUR-Lex, UNODC, CND, ANSM, IUPHAR/BPS, ChEBI, EUDA. Our method.

Family

Synthetic CB receptor agonist › New psychoactive substance

Class

phenylacetylindole

Verification

Classification, sources and binding values checked on 20 October 2026; text read against its sources and Wikipedia.

Wikipedia (English)

JWH-250 (new tab)

Article paired by the molecule's structure (InChIKey), revision read on 19 October 2026. Read as a second opinion, never cited as a source.

1. 1WHO, Expert Committee on Drug Dependence, 36th meeting (Geneva, 16-20 June 2014): JWH-250, Critical Review Report, item 4.11 (new tab)
2. 2ECDD Information Repository, JWH-250 record: recommended for surveillance at the 36th meeting (2014), no international control (new tab)
3. 3Huffman et al., Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry Letters, 2005: 1-pentyl-3-phenylacetylindoles, a new class of cannabimimetic indoles (original paper, CB1 and CB2 affinities) (new tab)PMID 16005223
4. 4Hruba and McMahon, Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, 2017: THC discrimination, duration of action and rimonabant pKB in rhesus monkeys (new tab)PMID 28533288
5. 5Ossato et al., Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry, 2016: tetrad, seizures, dopamine and synergy with JWH-073 in mice, effects prevented by AM-251 (new tab)PMID 26780169
6. 6Grigoryev et al., Journal of Chromatography B, 2011: metabolism of JWH-250 (human and rat urinary metabolites, biomarkers) (new tab)PMID 21803006
7. 7Hermanns-Clausen et al., Addiction, 2013: acute toxicity after confirmed use of synthetic cannabinoids, clinical and laboratory findings (new tab)PMID 22971158
8. 8Hutter et al., Journal of Mass Spectrometry, 2012: major urinary metabolites of seven synthetic cannabinoids including JWH-250, not detected by immunochemical tests (new tab)PMID 22282090
9. 9ANSM, consolidated list of substances classified as narcotics, updated 16 February 2026: JWH-250 listed by name in annex IV (new tab)
10. 10INCB, Green List of psychotropic substances under international control, 35th edition, 2024 (Schedule II: JWH-250 absent) (new tab)
11. 11PubChem, JWH-250, CID 44397540 (new tab)

SMILES

CCCCCN1C=C(C2=CC=CC=C21)C(=O)CC3=CC=CC=C3OC

Machine-readable entry (JSON)

LLM ingestion format: a structured superset of the entry (identifiers, binding, versioned legal status). Full corpus.