Examination of Firearms Review: 2007 to 2010 - Interpol

amphetamine were 0.1–0.4, 0.4–1.7, and 1.7–41.4 ng/mg, respectively. In
addition, the amphetamine-to-MA ratios showed large variations but also a
tendency towards smaller variations as the MA ranges increased. Segmented
hair specimens of self-declared ecstasy abusers obtained from a double-blind
placebo-controlled six-way crossover study, during which they received a 75
and a 100 mg dose of racemic MDMA twice, were used to determine the
enantioselective disposition of MDMA. With the use NCI-GC-MS, the
(R)-enantiomer was predominant, with R/S ratios varying between 1.02 and
2.75 and total concentrations ranging from 0.1 to 20.1 ng/mg [145]. Although
there is a study showing no significant difference in results between natural
and bleached hair, the results show a possible reduction in cocaine and
benzoylecgonine concentrations for bleached hair [49,146]. In fact, there is
another study showing that bleaching may lead to false negatives for analysis
of EtG in hair [147]. Hence, it is possible that the bleaching or perming of hair
may negatively affect the result of analysis.
2.3.2.3 Sweat
Toxicology tests obtained from 188 properly worn and unadulterated patches
(out of 536 applied) from opiate-dependent, treatment-seeking volunteers
showed that the level of agreement between positive sweat test results and
positive urine results was 33% for opiates and 92% for cocaine. Also, there
was a low acceptability of sweat patch testing by patients (only 54.3% were
brought back attached to the skin) and that weekly sweat testing is less
sensitive than weekly urine testing in detecting opiate use, suggesting limited
utility of sweat patch testing in outpatient clinical settings. The excretion profile
of methadone and other drugs (nicotine, cotinine, caffeine, and cocaine) was
studied by analyzing sweat patches of heroin abusers by GC/MS [148]. The
results showed that all the patches showed positive results for methadone,
with cocaine detected in two cases, and that the parent drug was mainly
identified rather than the metabolite(s). Sweat patches (n = 389) were collected
from 39 pregnant volunteers and were analyzed for opiates, cocaine, and
related metabolites using GC-MS [149]. Cocaine was present in 254 (65.3%)
patches in concentrations ranging from 5.2 to 11,835 ng per patch, with 154 of
them higher than the 25 ng per patch of proposed the Substance Abuse and
Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) cutoff. Interestingly,
6-acetylmorphine was the most prominent opiate analyte documented in 134
patches (34.4%), with 11.3% exceeding the cutoff of 25 ng per patch.
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