Analysis of new classes of recreational drugs in sewage: synthetic cannabinoids and amphetamine-like substances.

The analysis of sewage for the residues of commonly used illicit drugs has successfully been applied as a suitable approach for estimating community illicit drug use. The drug market is increasingly dynamic with new substances continually being marketed for recreational purposes. In this study, ultra-high pressure liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) was used to simultaneously and quantitatively detect the exogenous biomarkers of new classes of recreational drugs in sewage collected from three different Norwegian cities (Oslo, Bergen, Hamar).