Screening for drug abuse

Kronstrand R, Nystrom I, Strandberg J, Druid H. 2004. Screening for drugs of abuse in hair with ion spray LC-MS-MS. Forensic Sci Int 145 183. 

Exact mass is currently used in a range of application areas such as metabolism studies, impurity profiling, environmental analysis, synthetic chemistry (open access), industrial applications, clinical screening for drugs of abuse, and natural products, where rapid confirmation and low-level detection with high level of confidence are required. 

Marijuana users will find that many employers weed out substance abusers, because they are much more likely to be absent or have on-the-job accidents. In 1996, about a third of all potential hires were screened for drug use. At major corporations, the figure was 81%, and in the top-ranked Fortune 200 companies, it rose to 98%. Standards at many federal agencies are even more stringent The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) will disqualify applicants who had used marijuana within the past three years or a total of 15 times altogether. 

B. Caddy, F. Fish, and D. Scott, Chromatographic screening for drugs of abuse using capillary columns, part 1, comparison of open tubular columns and support coated open tubular columns for the analysis of central nervous system stimulant drugs, Chro-matographia, 6 251 (1973). 

Healthy male subjects, aged 18-45 years (inclusive), with a Body Mass Index between 18 and 27 kg/m2 (inclusive), normal or clinically irrelevant abnormal findings (in the opinion of the investigator) in the medical history and physical examination, laboratory values, ECG, blood pressure and pulse rate, negative serology (HIV antibody, hepatitis B surface antigen, hepatitis C antibody) and urine screen for drugs of abuse. 

B. Widdop. Screening for Drugs of Abuse (II) Cannabinoids, Lysergic Acid Diethylamide, Buprenorphine, Methadone, Barbiturates, Benzodiazepines and Other Drugs. Annals of Clinical Biochemistry 34 (5) (1997) 460-510 Shannon, M. Toxicology Reviews Physostigmine. Pediatric Emergency Care 14 (3) (1998) 224-226. 

For drug abuse detection, immunoassays are the methods of choice for initial screening (see later section on Drugs of Abuse). 

Paterson S, McLachlan-Troup N, Cordero R, Dohnal M, Carman S. Qualitative screening for drugs of abuse in hair using GC-MS. J Anal Toxicol 2001 25 203-8. 

L. Wilhelm, S. Jenckel, and R. Junker, Test strip handling in screening for drugs of abuse in the clinical toxicological setting, Laboratoriumsmedizin-Joumal of Laboratory Medicine, vol. 32, no. 3, pp. 168-174, May 2008. 

Screening for opiates is routinely performed by immunoassay techniques, with confirmation by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) (1). Drug testing governing bodies such as the National Institute for Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the SAMHSA... 

Automation of gas-liquid chromatography, including sample extraction, has recently been introduced it also has had as its main emphasis the screening for drugs of abuse. However, the system appears to be flexible enough to perhaps allow automated analysis of other urinary or serum and plasma components, such as steroids, that would have some bearing on genetic variation. 

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