∆8-THC-COOH cross-reactivity with cannabinoid immunoassay kits and interference in chromatographic testing methods.

Because of structural similarities, the presence of 11-Nor-9-carboxy-∆8-tetrahydrocannabinol (∆8-THC-COOH) in a urine specimen might interfere with testing for 11-Nor-9-carboxy-∆9-tetrahydrocannabinol (∆9-THC-COOH). A set of samples containing ∆8-THC-COOH with concentrations ranging from 10 to 120 ng/mL were tested at cut-offs of 20, 50 and 100 ng/mL using cannabinoid immunoassay reagents from three different manufacturers. Cross-reactivities ranged from 87% to 112% for ∆8-THC-COOH at the cut-off of 50 ng/mL for the three different platforms. Additionally, samples containing both ∆8-THC-COOH and ∆9-THC-COOH were fortified by the National Laboratory Certification Program (NLCP). U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)-Certified Laboratories tested the samples to determine the interference of ∆8-THC-COOH on confirmatory tests commonly used in workplace drug testing laboratories for the confirmation and quantification of ∆9-THC-COOH. When evaluating confirmation and quantification of ∆9-THC-COOH in the presence of ∆8-THC-COOH, unreportable results for ∆9-THC-COOH were observed because of chromatographic interference or mass ratio failures. However, there were no false-positive ∆9-THC-COOH reports from any HHS-certified laboratory.

Assessment of the stability of DNA in specimens collected under conditions for drug testing-A pilot study.

For forensic biological sample collections, the specimen donor is linked solidly to his or her specimen through a chain of custody (CoC) sometimes referenced as a chain of evidence. Rarely, a donor may deny that a urine or oral fluid (OF) specimen is his or her specimen even with a patent CoC. The goal of this pilot study was to determine the potential effects of short-term storage on the quality and quantity of DNA in both types of specimen under conditions that may be encountered with employment-related drug testing specimens. Fresh urine and freshly collected oral fluid all produced complete STR profiles. For the "pad" type OF collectors, acceptable DNA was extractable both from the buffer/preservative and the pad. Although fresh urine and OF produced complete STR profiles, partial profiles were obtained after storage for most samples. An exception was the DNA in the Quantisal OF collector, from which a complete profile was obtained for both freshly collected OF and stored OF.

Non-smoker exposure to secondhand cannabis smoke II: Effect of room ventilation on the physiological, subjective, and behavioral/cognitive effects.

INTRODUCTION: Cannabis is the most widely used illicit drug. Many individuals are incidentally exposed to secondhand cannabis smoke, but little is known about the effects of this exposure. This report examines the physiological, subjective, and behavioral/cognitive effects of secondhand cannabis exposure, and the influence of room ventilation on these effects. METHODS: Non-cannabis-using individuals were exposed to secondhand cannabis smoke from six individuals smoking cannabis (11.3% THC) ad libitum in a specially constructed chamber for 1h. Chamber ventilation was experimentally manipulated so that participants were exposed under unventilated conditions or with ventilation at a rate of 11 air exchanges/h. Physiological, subjective and behavioral/cognitive measures of cannabis exposure assessed after exposure sessions were compared to baseline measures. RESULTS: Exposure to secondhand cannabis smoke under unventilated conditions produced detectable cannabinoid levels in blood and urine, minor increases in heart rate, mild to moderate self-reported sedative drug effects, and impaired performance on the digit symbol substitution task (DSST). One urine specimen tested positive at using a 50 ng/ml cut-off and several specimens were positive at 20 ng/ml. Exposure under ventilated conditions resulted in much lower blood cannabinoid levels, and did not produce sedative drug effects, impairments in performance, or positive urine screen results. CONCLUSIONS: Room ventilation has a pronounced effect on exposure to secondhand cannabis smoke. Under extreme, unventilated conditions, secondhand cannabis smoke exposure can produce detectable levels of THC in blood and urine, minor physiological and subjective drug effects, and minor impairment on a task requiring psychomotor ability and working memory.

Prescription Opioids. IV: Disposition of Hydrocodone in Oral Fluid and Blood Following Single-Dose Administration.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is currently evaluating hydrocodone (HC) for inclusion in the Mandatory Guidelines for Federal Workplace Drug Testing Programs. This study evaluated the time course of HC, norhydrocodone (NHC), dihydrocodeine (DHC) and hydromorphone (HM) in paired oral fluid and whole blood specimens by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (limit of quantitation = 1 ng/mL of oral fluid, 5 ng/mL of blood) over a 52-h period. A single dose of HC bitartrate, 20 mg, was administered to 12 subjects. Analyte prevalence was as follows: oral fluid, HC > NHC > DHC; and blood, HC > NHC. HM was not detected in any specimen. HC was frequently detected within 15 min in oral fluid and 30 min in blood. Mean oral fluid to blood (OF : BL) ratios and correlations were 3.2 for HC (r = 0.73) and 0.7 for NHC (r = 0.42). The period of detection for oral fluid exceeded blood at all evaluated thresholds. At a 1-ng/mL threshold for oral fluid, mean detection time was 30 h for HC and 18 h for NHC and DHC. This description of HC and metabolite disposition in oral fluid following single-dose administration provides valuable interpretive guidance of HC test results.

Prescription opioids. III. Disposition of oxycodone in oral fluid and blood following controlled single-dose administration.

Oxycodone (OC) is recommended to be included as an analyte tested in the proposed Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA's) Mandatory Guidelines for Federal Workplace Drug Testing Programs using Oral Fluid (OF) Specimens. This study demonstrates the time course of OC and metabolites, noroxycodone (NOC), oxymorphone (OM) and noroxymorphone (NOM), in near-simultaneous paired OF and whole blood (BL) specimens by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS) (limit of detection = 1 ng/mL OF, 5 ng/mL BL). A single dose of OC 20 mg controlled-release was administered to 12 healthy subjects followed by specimen collections for 52 h. Analyte prevalence was as follows: OF, OC > NOC > OM; and BL, OC > NOC > NOM. OC and NOC were frequently detected within 15-30 min in OF and 30 min to 2 h in BL. NOM and OM appeared between 1.5-5 h post-dose. The mean OF-to-BL (OF:BL) ratios and correlations were 5.4 for OC (r = 0.719) and 1.0 for NOC (r = 0.651). The period of detection for OF exceeded BL by ∼2-fold at similar cutoff concentrations. At a 1 ng/mL cutoff for OF, the mean detection time was 34 h for OC and NOC. These data provide new information that should facilitate interpretation of OC test results.

Morphine and codeine in oral fluid after controlled poppy seed administration.

Opiates are an important drug class in drug testing programmes. Ingestion of poppy seeds containing morphine and codeine can yield positive opiate tests and mislead result interpretation in forensic and clinical settings. Multiple publications evaluated urine opiate concentrations following poppy seed ingestion, but only two addressed oral fluid (OF) results; neither provided the ingested morphine and codeine dosage. We administered two 45 g raw poppy seed doses, each containing 15.7 mg morphine and 3.1 mg codeine, 8 h apart to 17 healthy adults. All OF specimens were screened by on-site OF immunoassay Draeger DrugTest 5000, and confirmed with OF collected with Oral-Eze® device and quantified by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (1 µg/L morphine and codeine limits of quantification). Specimens (n = 459) were collected before and up to 32 h after the first dose. All specimens screened positive 0.5 h after dosing and remained positive for 0.5-13 h at Draeger 20 µg/L morphine cut-off. Maximum OF morphine and codeine concentrations (Cmax ) were 177 and 32.6 µg/L, with times to Cmax (Tmax ) of 0.5-1 h and 0.5-2.5 h post-dose, respectively. Windows of detection after the second dose extended at least 24 h for morphine and to 18 h for codeine. After both doses, the last morphine positive OF result was 1 h with 40 µg/L 2004 proposed US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration cut-off, and 0.5 h with 95 µg/L cut-off, recently recommended by the Driving under the Influence of Drugs and Medicines project. Positive OF morphine results are possible 0.5-1 h after ingestion of 15.7 mg of morphine in raw poppy seeds, depending on the cut-off employed.

Methamphetamine and amphetamine isomer concentrations in human urine following controlled Vicks VapoInhaler administration.

Legitimate use of legal intranasal decongestants containing l-methamphetamine may complicate interpretation of urine drug tests positive for amphetamines. Our study hypotheses were that commonly used immunoassays would produce no false-positive results and a recently developed enantiomer-specific gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) procedure would find no d-amphetamine or d-methamphetamine in urine following controlled Vicks VapoInhaler administration at manufacturer's recommended doses. To evaluate these hypotheses, 22 healthy adults were each administered one dose (two inhalations in each nostril) of a Vicks VapoInhaler every 2 h for 10 h on Day 1 (six doses), followed by a single dose on Day 2. Every urine specimen was collected as an individual void for 32 h after the first dose and assayed for d- and l-amphetamines specific isomers with a GC-MS method with >99% purity of R-(-)-α-methoxy-α-(trifluoromethyl)phenylacetyl derivatives and 10 µg/L lower limits of quantification. No d-methamphetamine or d-amphetamine was detected in any urine specimen by GC-MS. The median l-methamphetamine maximum concentration was 62.8 µg/L (range: 11.0-1,440). Only two subjects had detectable l-amphetamine, with maximum concentrations coinciding with l-methamphetamine peak levels, and always ≤ 4% of the parent's maximum. Three commercial immunoassays for amphetamines EMIT(®) II Plus, KIMS(®) II and DRI(®) had sensitivities, specificities and efficiencies of 100, 97.8, 97.8; 100, 99.6, 99.6 and 100, 100, 100%, respectively. The immunoassays had high efficiencies, but our first hypothesis was not affirmed. The EMIT(®) II Plus assay produced 2.2% false-positive results, requiring an enantiomer-specific confirmation.

Drug and alcohol use among drivers admitted to a Level-1 trauma center.

The purpose of this research was to determine the incidence and prevalence of drug use, alcohol use, and the combination of drug and alcohol use among motor vehicle crash (MVC) victims admitted to a Level-1 trauma center. In a 90-day study, nearly two-thirds of trauma center admissions were victims of motor vehicle crashes. Blood and urine was collected from 168 MVC victims of whom 108 were identified as the driver in the crash. Toxicology results indicated that 65.7% of drivers tested positive for either commonly abused drugs or alcohol. More than half of the drivers tested positive for drugs (50.9%) other than alcohol, with one in four drivers testing positive for marijuana use. About one-third of those using drugs had also been drinking, but alcohol was detected in only 30.6% of all injured drivers. Within the total MVC patient pool, passenger drug/alcohol use was equivalent to the driver population; however, injured pedestrians had higher rates of alcohol only than other MVC victims. There were no significant differences in drug and alcohol use between MVCs and trauma admissions of other causes. Of the patients with positive toxicology results, less than half (42%) were referred for evaluation for substance abuse disorders.

An evaluation of selected oral fluid point-of-collection drug-testing devices.

Point-of-collection oral fluids drug-testing devices are being marketed for a variety of medico-legal purposes where they may complement existing technologies and be used to detect drugs following recent ingestion. To assess the utility of these devices for use in drugged-driving investigations, we performed a laboratory evaluation of four devices and those results were published previously. In the study reported here, two more devices, Oratect(R) (Branan) and Uplink(R) (OraSure), were evaluated for their ability to detect amphetamines, cocaine, opiates, and cannabinoids. An additional device, Drugwipe (Securtec), was evaluated for the detection of cocaine and cannabinoids. Each of the devices was assessed for their ability to meet the manufacturers' claimed cutoff concentrations and to meet cutoffs proposed for federal workplace programs. In general, the Branan and OraSure devices detected amphetamine, methamphetamine, opiates, and cannabinoid metabolite (THC-COOH) well in the concentration ranges approximating those proposed by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), but all three devices performed poorly in detecting Delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) at the proposed SAMHSA cutoff. The ability to accurately and reliably detect cocaine was dependent on the individual device, and the Branan and Securetec devices were more effective than OraSure at detecting parent cocaine.

Epidemiology of alcohol and other drug use among motor vehicle crash victims admitted to a trauma center.

The objectives of this research were to (1) determine the incidence and prevalence of alcohol and other drug use among motor vehicle crash (MVC) victims admitted to a regional Level-I trauma center, and (2) to examine the utility of using a rapid point-of-collection (POC) drug-testing device to identify MVC patients with drug involvement. Blood and urine specimens were routinely collected per clinical protocol for each MVC victim at the time of admission. Blood alcohol concentration (BAC) levels were determined per standard clinical protocol. Clinical urine specimens were routinely split so that a POC drug-testing device for the detection of commonly abused drugs (Marijuana, Cocaine, Amphetamines, Methamphetamines, and Opiates) could be compared to that of the standard hospital laboratory analysis of each urine specimen (which also included Barbiturates and Benzodiazepines). In the six-month period of this study, nearly two-thirds of trauma center admissions were victims of motor vehicle crashes. During this time, blood and urine was collected from 322 MVC victims. Toxicology results indicated that 59.3% of MVC victims tested positive for either commonly abused drugs or alcohol. More patients tested positive for drug use than tested positive for alcohol, with 33.5% testing positive for drug use only, 15.8% testing positive for alcohol use only, and 9.9% testing positive for both drugs and alcohol. Less than half (45.2%) of the substance-abusing patients in this study would have been identified by an alcohol test alone. After alcohol, marijuana and benzodiazepines were the most frequently detected drugs. Point of collection (POC) test results correlated well with laboratory results and provide important information to initiate rapid intervention/treatment for substance use problems among injured patients.

An evaluation of rapid point-of-collection oral fluid drug-testing devices.

New technology is currently being marketed to rapidly test oral fluids for drugs of abuse at the point of collection (POC). There are no nationally accepted standards or cutoff concentrations for detecting drugs in oral fluids and for most analytes there are significant differences in cutoff concentrations across devices. Four devices were evaluated (OralLab), RapiScan, Drugwipe, and SalivaScreen) for their ability to meet manufacturers claims, and proposed federal standards for criminal justice and workplace programs. Human oral fluid fortified with known quantities of drug [drug(s) or metabolite(s)] was used to test these devices. Overall, the performance of these rapid POC oral fluid drug-testing devices was quite variable. Some devices performed well for the analysis of some drug classes but poorly for others. In general, most devices performed well for the detection of methamphetamine and opiates, but all performed poorly for the detection of cannabinoids. The ability to accurately and reliably detect cocaine and amphetamine was dependent on the individual device.