Wastewater surveillance to assess cocaine and methylenedioxymethamphetamine use trends during a major music festival in Brazil.

Wastewater-based epidemiology was applied in northeastern Brazil during a dance festival, revealing that cocaine consumption doubled during the event days. The daily drug loads were 0.95 ± 0.03 to 11.4 ± 0.4 g/day for BE, 1.8 ± 0.4 to 7.6 ± 0.3 g/day for COC, 0.04 ± 0.02 to 0.19 ± 0.02 g/day for COE, and 0.08 ± 0.02 to 0.80 ± 0.02 g/day for MDMA.

This study employed the wastewater­based epidemiology (WBE) strategy to investigate cocaine (COC) and ecstasy (MDMA) usage during Carnatal festival in Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. Wastewater samples were collected over the four festival days (December 12­15, 2019), as well as during corresponding days before and after the event. The samples underwent filtration, acidification, solid­phase extraction (SPE) for pre­concentration, and analysis using ultra­high­performance liquid chromatography­tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC­MS/MS) with calibration using deuterated internal standards. The measured concentration ranges in the wastewater samples were as follows: benzoylecgonine (BE, a metabolite of COC use) ranged from 760 ± 30 to 8914 ± 252 ng/L, COC (non­metabolized or directly discharged) ranged from 1182 ± 25 to 6,760 ± 95 ng/L, cocaethylene (COE, a metabolite of alcohol­COC use) ranged from 21 ± 10 to 161 ± 10 ng/L, and MDMA (ecstasy) ranged from 18 ± 5 to 613 ± 15 ng/L. Daily wastewater loads were estimated as 0.81 ± 0.03 to 11.69 ± 0.33 g/day for BE, 1.42 ± 0.03 to 8.06 ± 0.11 g/day for COC, 0.02 ± 0.01 to 0.21 ± 0.01 g/day for COE, and 0.02 ± 0.01 to 0.80 ± 0.02 g/day for MDMA. Notably, COE and MDMA were only detected above the quantification limit during the festival days. The data enable estimating that COC consumption doubled during the event days. The COC/BE ratio indicated likely drug disposals on the event's last day and the subsequent week. The study's findings shed light on illicit substance consumption, assisting in public health programs and combating drug trafficking efforts.

An overview of New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) in northeast Brazil: NMR-based identification and analysis of ecstasy tablets by GC-MS.

The actual illicit market for synthetic drugs is characterized by a wide variety of psychoactive substances of different chemical and pharmacological classes, such as amphetamine-type stimulants and new psychoactive substances. The knowledge about its chemical composition, as well as the nature and quantity of the active substances present, is important for emergency care in intoxication cases by these substances and to establish adequate chemical and toxicological analysis procedures in forensic laboratories. The aim of this work was to study the prevalence of amphetamine-type stimulants and new psychoactive substances in the states of Bahia and Sergipe, in the northeast region of Brazil, involving samples of drugs seized by the local police forces from 2014 to 2019. In a total of 121 seized and analyzed samples, in which ecstasy tablets predominated (n = 101), nineteen substances were identified using GC-MS and 1D NMR techniques, comprising classical synthetic drugs and new psychoactive substances (NPS). In order to determine the composition of ecstasy tablets, an analytical method based on GC-MS was applied after validation. Analyzes of 101 ecstasy tablets showed that MDMA was the main substance, being found in 57% of the samples, in amounts between 27.3 and 187.1 mg per tablet. In addition, mixtures of MDMA, MDA, synthetic cathinones and caffeine were observed in 34 samples. These results demonstrate that the variety of substances found and the composition of seized materials in northeast Brazil is similar to other studies carried out previously in other Brazilian regions.

Chemical identification of 2,5-dimethoxy-4-bromoamphetamine (DOB).

The consumption of synthetic drugs, generally known as designer drugs, has increased drastically in all parts of the world. Typical constituents of designer synthetic drugs are chemical substances derived from amphetamine but significant differences in effects caused and duration may result. In May, 2005, the civil state police of Sao Paulo seized thirty-one gelatinous capsules containing a very small quantity of a white powder inside (approximately 1.5 mg per capsule). This paper describes the analytical assays that were used to identify the seized material. Preliminary assays using colorimetric tests and high performance thin-layer chromatography indicated that the capsules content could be an amphetamine derivative. In the capillary zone electrophoresis assay, it was possible to observe that the analyzed material had basic characteristics. Mass spectrometry analysis revealed that the compound had the same molecular mass as 2,5-dimethoxy-4-bromoamphetamine (DOB) and its identity was confirmed through collision-induced dissociation (CID) experiments. Finally, the comparison of infrared sample spectrum with a spectra library provided further evidence of the DOB presence in the seized material. Although a reference standard material was not available, the information gathered from the different assays allowed the conclusion that the substance was, in fact, DOB, a substance with a powerful hallucinogenic action of proscribed use in the country and which was seized and identified for the first time in Brazil.