Fluorodeschloroketamine found as a street drug in drug seizures and drug driving cases in Hong Kong.

BACKGROUND: With the decline of the use of ketamine, one of the common drugs of abuse in Hong Kong, detection of ketamine-related analogues in local laboratories has been encountered. AIM: A brief account of the occurrence of fluorodeschloroketamine (FDCK) in forensic cases is reported through a retrospective study of all drug seizures and driving under the influence of drugs (DUID) cases since its first appearance. METHODS: Identification of FDCK in drug seizures was achieved through gas chromatography - mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and/or liquid chromatography - diode array detection (LC-DAD) methods while its quantification was performed using gas chromatography - flame ionization detection (GC-FID). For the analysis of blood samples in DUID cases, identification and quantification were performed using LC-MS/MS by monitoring the respective transitions of FDCK and fluorodeschloronorketamine (FDCNK) using ketamine-d4 and norketamine-d4 respectively as internal standards. RESULTS: Since its first submission in November 2018, a total of 74 drug seizure cases (151 items) and 6 drug driving cases were encountered till December 2019. Drug seizures found with FDCK were physically similar to those of ketamine seizures. The majority of items were detected with FDCK only (103 items, ∼67%) or as a mixture of FDCK with ketamine (42 items, ∼28%). The drug purity detected with either FDCK only or FDCK mixed with ketamine was high which was similar to those purity found in ketamine seizures. The blood drug concentrations of FDCK of the 6 drug driving cases were in the range of <0.002-1.1 µg/mL and other psychoactive drug(s)/metabolite(s) were also identified. Except for one case where the analysis of the metabolite, fluorodeschloronorketamine (FDCNK), was not conducted due to insufficient sample, the FDCK (FDCNK) concentrations in blood found in the 6 cases were <0.002 (0.005), 0.002 (0.002), 0.002 (0.003), 0.02 (0.035), 0.87 (0.44) and 1.1 (not determined) µg/mL. CONCLUSIONS: With the drug seizures found with FDCK resembled in physical appearance with ketamine seizures, users might likely misuse it as ketamine. Though complicated by other drugs found, it is speculated that the two cases with higher concentration of FDCK found in blood (1.1 and 0.87 µg/mL) might have contributed to the impairment observed.

Prevalence of drugs of abuse found in forensic testing of illicit drug seizures and urine samples from offenders/probationers in Hong Kong: A 3-year update.

The study investigates the prevalence of drugs of abuse detected from 2016 to 2018 through i) forensic drug testing of seizures from law enforcement agencies, and ii) common drugs of abuse for urinalysis of samples obtained from offenders/probationers under mandatory drug-use surveillance programmes. Under the selected drug testing groups, an average of 4677 cases/year (c.f. 5334 cases/year in 2011-2015) of illicit drug seizures and 19,501 samples/year (c.f. 28,438 samples/year in 2011-2015) for urinalysis, were examined from 2016 to 2018. The three most commonly encountered abused drugs in the period in both types of examinations were methamphetamine (MA), cocaine and heroin. The occurrence of ketamine, the most prevalent drug [1815 (34.0%) cases/year (for drug seizures), 2074 (7.3%) samples/year (for urinalysis)] in 2011-2015, had dropped significantly to 487 (10.4%) cases/year and 350 (1.8%) samples/year respectively. The drug positive rates for urinalysis in the selected population group (i.e., offenders/probationers requiring mandatory drug testing) increased steadily from 27.3% in 2016 to 30.8% in 2018 (an average of 29.0% vs. 22.1% in 2011-2015). The ratio of single drug use to more than one drug was about 4:1, showing predominant use of single drug. While MA was the most prevalent drug in the period, cases found with cocaine and cannabis increased steadily over the past 3 years. A rising trend was noted for cases identified with new psychoactive substances (NPS) in illicit drug seizures from an average of 87 cases/year in 2011-2015 to 211 cases/year in 2016-2018 although NPS cases still contributed to less than 5% of overall drug seizures. A total of 69 substances classified as NPS were encountered with 47 NPS newly encountered in 2016-2018 but 25 NPS found in 2011-2015 disappeared in this 3-year period. Cathinones, including both synthetic and plant-based, continued to be the major category of NPS cases (∼72%) in the region followed by synthetic cannabinoids, ketamine/PCP analogs and synthetic opioids.

The Emergence of Deschloro-N-ethyl-ketamine, a Ketamine Analog, in Drug Seizures and Drug Driving Cases in Hong Kong.

The study reports the detection of a newly emerged drug, deschloro-N-ethyl-ketamine (2-oxo-PCE), an analog of ketamine, through forensic drug and toxicological examinations of exhibits from drug seizure cases and blood samples taken from drivers of driving under the influence of drug (DUID) cases, respectively, in Hong Kong. The submission of 2-oxo-PCE in both types of cases was firstly encountered in October 2017. A total of 31 drug seizure cases (52 items) and 4 DUID cases were found positive with 2-oxo-PCE till October 2018. Drug seizures with 2-oxo-PCE found were all in physical form (mostly in powdery or crystalline solid), resembling those samples commonly found with ketamine but having much lower purity. Although the majority of the relevant items was found with 2-oxo-PCE as the only psychoactive substance (36 items, ~69%) or as a mixture with ketamine (10 items, ~19%), other psychoactive substances including methamphetamine, methylenedioxymethamphetamine and pentylone have also been encountered (6 items, 12%). For the four DUID cases, 2-oxo-PCE and its metabolite, deschloronorketamine, were detected in all blood samples. The 2-oxo-PCE concentrations in the four blood samples were in the range of 0.08-0.31 µg/mL, being higher than the concentrations of deschloronorketamine (in the range of 0.04-0.09 µg/mL) for each sample. The 2-oxo-PCE levels found were generally lower than the ketamine levels found in reported DUID cases. With items found with 2-oxo-PCE, which were physically indistinguishable from ketamine but having lower drug purity in seizures, the lower 2-oxo-PCE blood levels with more severe impairment signs observed for the drivers in DUID cases, it is not unreasonable to speculate that users might have taken it as ketamine without knowing of its real identity and hence was adversely affected by the more potent 2-oxo-PCE.

Interpol review of toxicology 2016-2019.

This review paper covers the forensic-relevant literature in toxicology from 2016 to 2019 as a part of the 19th Interpol International Forensic Science Managers Symposium. The review papers are also available at the Interpol website at: https://www.interpol.int/content/download/14458/file/Interpol%20Review%20.Papers%202019.pdf.

Prevalence of drugs of abuse found in testing of illicit drug seizures and urinalysis of selected population in Hong Kong.

The study investigates the prevalence of drugs of abuse detected from 2011 to 2015 through (i) forensic drug testing of illicit drug seizures from law enforcement agencies; and (ii) analysis of common drugs of abuse in urine samples obtained from offenders/probationers under mandatory drug-use surveillance programmes. Under the selected drug testing groups, there were an average of 5334 cases/year of illicit drug seizures examined and 28,438 samples/year requiring drugs of abuse analysis in urine, from 2011 to 2015. The drug positive rates for urinalysis in the selected population group (i.e., offenders/probationers requiring mandatory drug testing) were steady with an average of about 22%. The ratio of single drug use to more than one drug was about 4:1, showing predominant use of single drug. Ketamine, methamphetamine (MA) and heroin were the three most commonly encountered abused drugs through laboratory testing. During the period, identification of ketamine was shown to decline continuously in both illicit drug testing and urinalysis while there was substantial increase in detection of MA. A rising trend was noted for cases identified with new psychotropic substances (NPS) in illicit drug seizures although NPS cases contributed to a small proportion of overall drug seizure cases examined (<5%) in the study period. A total of 47 substances classified as NPS were encountered with cathinones, either synthetic or plant-based, contributed to the majority of NPS cases (˜77%) followed by synthetic cannabinoids and phenethylamines.

The occurrence of alcohol/drugs by toxicological examination of selected drivers in Hong Kong.

The study is to investigate the extent of alcohol/drug(s) use among selected drivers, i.e. fatally injured drivers from traffic accidents (2006-2015), drink driving (2006-2015) and drug driving (2010-2015) cases, in Hong Kong. Between 2006 and 2015, specimens from a total of 223 fatally injured drivers were received for toxicological examination. Except for one driver, all other drivers with positive findings were male. Alcohol and/or drugs were detected in 60 (27%) cases where alcohol alone was detected in 40 cases (18%) while drugs with/without alcohol were detected in 20 cases (9%). A decreasing trend is observed for cases with blood/breath alcohol concentrations above the prescribed limits in both fatally injured drivers and drivers from drink driving cases in 2006-2015. Out of the 20 cases with positive findings in drugs, 8 of them were found with alcohol in which only one case found at level above the prescribed limit. The frequency of drugs encountered that are known to affect driving in blood is 31, representing an average of about 1.7 drugs per individual. Ketamine was the most frequently detected drug in fatally injured drivers. Sedatives/hypnotics (i.e. diazepam/nordiazepam, midazolam, 7-aminonimetazepam, 7-aminonitrazepam and zopiclone), morphine/monoacetylmorphine, cocaine/benzoylecgonine, methamphetamine, methadone and codeine were also detected. There has been a sharp increase in the submission of blood/urine specimens for toxicological analysis related to drug driving cases since 2010 with a total of 48 cases received in 2010-2011. With the introduction of legislative amendment of drug driving law since 2012, 154 cases were received in 2012-2015. The positive rates for drug driving cases examined were found to be 90% (43 out of 48 cases) in 2010-2011 and 89% (137 out of 154 cases) in 2012-2015. Drivers with single drug use were more frequently detected (40 cases in 2010-2011 and 82 cases in 2012-2015) than multiple drug use (3 cases in 2010-2011 and 55 cases in 2012-2015) but an increase in the use of more than one drug in driving population is noted. Ketamine was detected in the majority of cases (34 cases in 2010-2011 and 104 cases in 2012-2015). However, drug driving cases in recent years revealed that increase usages of methamphetamine, cocaine and zopiclone were observed. The mean, median and range of ketamine concentrations for 134 blood samples taken from drivers in drug driving cases were 0.34, 0.27, 0.01-1.8µg/mL respectively.

Enantiomeric separation of methamphetamine and related analogs by capillary zone electrophoresis: intelligence study in routine methamphetamine seizures.

A method for simultaneous enantiomeric separation of ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, and methamphetamine (MA) in a single run by simple capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) with beta-cyclodextrin as a chiral selector is described. The effects of the buffer pH, phosphate concentration, beta-cyclodextrin concentration, voltage and temperature on the peak resolution were examined. Good enantiomeric resolution was attained for each analyte under our optimized conditions: 15 mM beta-cyclodextrin, 300 mM NaH2PO4 at pH 2.5 with an uncoated capillary (64.5 cm x 50 microm), applied potential at 20 kV and temperature at 30 degrees C. Ultraviolet (UV) detection at a fixed wavelength (200 nm) was employed using a diode array detector. Using phentermine as an internal standard, migration times for all analytes are reproducible within 0.16% for intra-day and 0.6% for inter-day runs. Application of this method to the analysis of confiscated drugs is discussed.