Hair analysis cannabinoids

Hair analysis by chromatographic procedures was reviewed in 1992 by Moeller. Analytical methods for the detection of drugs in hair were reviewed for amphet-amines, °7 cannabinoids, cocaine, ° and opiates. "... 

Baumgartner et al." and Mieczkowski and NeweB" compared cannabinoid detection in urine and hair samples. They concluded that hair analysis and urinalysis were complementary rather than competing tests. Urinalysis provides short-term information of an individual s drug use, whereas long-term histories are accessible through hair analysis. Moreover, in contrast with qualitative information from urinalysis, hair analysis provides quantitative information on the severity and pattern of an individual s drug use. 

Mieczkowski, T., A research note the outcome of GC/MS/MS confirmation of hair analysis on 93 cannabinoids positive cases. Forensic Sci. Int., 70, 83,1995. 

Amphetamine and cannabinoids can also be detected in routine analyses together with cocaine and opiates. As the frequency of positive findings is relatively low compared to the frequency of positive urine results, it may be assumed that amphetamine and cannabinoids will only be detected after regular consumption. Positive findings of THC can be confirmed by the detection of THC-COOH and OH-THC to exclude the possibility that the hair had only been contaminated by smoke. MDMA, MDE, and MDA can be detected in hair, but there is little experience with quantitative results. In routine analysis on illegal drugs, all listed substances in Figure 8 should be taken into consideration. 

Compared to other drugs of abuse, analysis of cannabinoids presents some difficult challenges. THC and 11-OH-THC are highly lipophilic and present in low concentrations in body fluids. Complex specimen matrices, i.e., blood, sweat, and hair, may require multi-step extractions to separate cannabinoids from endogenous lipids and proteins. Care must be taken to avoid low recoveries of cannabinoids due to their high affinity to glass and plastic containers, and to collection devices for alternate matrices (Blanc et al. 1993 Bloom 1982 Christophersen 1986 Joern 1992). THC and THCCOOH are predominantly found in the plasma fraction of blood, where 95% to 99% are bound to lipoproteins. Only about 10% of either... 

An analysis of twenty wild strains growing in India showed that higher concentrations of cannabinoids and more glandular hairs were found in plants in warm, dry, windy places and at lower elevations (Planta Medica... 

Because marijuana is the most widely used illegal drug of abuse in this country there is great interest in detection of cannabinoids and their metabolites [38,39]. Initial extraction from blood, hair, and body tissues is typically by LLE [38,40-44]. Goodall and Basteyns [40] used BSTFA for derivatization and found LODs of 0.2 ng/ml for A tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and 11-hydroxy-THC (11-OH-THC) and 2 ng/ml for 11 nor-9-carboxy-THC (THCCOOH) in blood, using deu-terated internal standards [40]. For MS detection, El was used with SIM. This method of analysis is proposed as an alternative to more costly detection methods involving negative-ion Cl GC-MS or tandem MS. 

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