Occupational intoxication and long-term persistence of phencyclidine (PCP) in law enforcement personnel.

By utilizing a glass capillary gas chromatographic nitrogen detector (GC2-N) method specific for phencyclidine (PCP) and sensitive to pg/mL in blood or urine samples, we have demonstrated occupational intoxication of law enforcement personnel charged with handling confiscated illegal PCP preparations. Further, we have demonstrated persistence of PCP in blood and urine for at least 6 months after the last known occupational exposure in one officer. Some aspects of the PCP problem are outlined, and possible mechanisms of the occupational intoxication are discussed.

The urban epidemic of phencyclidine (PCP) use: clinical and laboratory evidence from a public psychiatric hospital emergency service.

Routine blood samples of 145 consecutive patients seen in the Los Angeles County Psychiatric Hospital Emergency Room during a 48-hour weekday period in June 1979 were examined for phencyclidine (PCP) using a sensitive and specific gas capillary gas chromatographic nitrogen detector (GC2-N) method. Of these 145 samples 63 (43.4%) were positive and PCP levels ranged 0.

Incidental intoxication with phencyclidine.

Utilizing a sensitive and specific gas chromatography nitrogen detector (GC2-N) method we have demonstrated phencyclidine (PCP) in the blood of a 65-year-old widowed Mexican-American woman who lived in a second floor apartment directly over an illegal laboratory utilizing open-vat methods of PCP synthesis. This is the first proof of such incidental PCP intoxication, although police officers regularly complain of developing symptoms of intoxication after raiding such clandestine laboratories and handling the confiscated products. The presumed mechanism of incidental intoxication with PCP and the psychiatric manifestations of this patient are described and discussed.